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EUROPEAN   AGRICULTURE 


AND 


RURAL  ECONOMY.. 


FROM  PERSONAL  OBSERVATION. 


BT 


HENRY  COIMAN, 

HONORARY  MEMBER  OF  THE  ROYAL  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY  OF  ENGLAND,  OF  THE 

NATIONAL  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY  OF  FRANCE,  AND  OF  THE  NATIONAL 

AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


"  For,  in  all  things  whatever,  the  mind  is  the  most  valuable  and  the  most  important ; 
and  in  this  scale  the  whole  of  agriculture  is  in  a  natural  and  just  order ;  the  beast  is  an 
informing  principle  to  the  plough  and  cart,  the  laborer  is  as  reason  to  the  beast,  and  the 
farmer  is  as  a  thinking  and  presiding  principle  to  the  laborer.''  —  Burke. 


YOL.  I 


FOURTH     EDITION,     WITH      ADDITIONS. 


BOSTON: 

PHILLIPS,    SAMPSON    &    COMPANY.  I 

NEW  YORK  :    CHARLES  M.  SAXTON.     PHILADELPHIA  :    THOMAS,  COWPERTHWAIT  'i 

&  CO.       BALTIMORE:     GUSHING    &    BROTHER.      CHARLESTON,  S.  C:  <; 

m'cARTER  &  ALLEN.       CINCINNATI  :    H.  W.  DERBY                         '  j 
&  CO.     BUFFALO  :  G.  H.  DERBY  &  CO. 

1851.  ] 

4 


Clio    ■ 

I/./ 


*  •  •       , 


•     *    •  f  J 


^'^rr'^rJ^'rt.*  ''ii,.::-'>j 


Q.v^  „i  e.  U.D.,..\i 


r\ 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1849,  by 

HENRY    COLMAN, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTYPED  AT  THE 
BOSTON  TYPE  AND  STEREOTYPE  FOUNDRY. 


AVRIGHT  AND  HASTY  8  STEAM  PRESS. 


INDEX, 


OB 


TABLE    OP    CONTENTS 
VOL.  I. 


pnan. 

Names  OF  Subscribers ix 

Preface  to  First  Edition. xxi 

Preface  to  Second  Edition xxv 


FIRST    REPORT. 

I.  General  Facts  and  Considerations 1 

II.  Particular  Objects  of  Inquiry 4 

III.  Science  and  Agriculture 6 

IV.  English  Agriculture 10 

V.  English  Capital 13 

VI.    General  Appearance  of  the  Country 16 

VII.    Hedges  and  Enclosures 18 

VIII.    Iron  and  Sunken  Fences 20 

IX.    The  English  Parks 21 

X.    Ornamental  Shrubs  and  Flowers. .,. 29 

XI.    Climate  of  England 31 

XII.    Agricultural  Population 34 

1.  The  Landlords ;  Rents ;  and  Taxes 34 

2.  The  Farmers 38 

3.  The  Agricultural  Laborers 39 

Xm.    Allotment  System 73 


SECOND  REPORT. 

XIII.  Allotment  System,  (continued.) , 81 

XIV.  Quantity  of  Seed 109 

XV.    Steeping  Seeds 114 

XVI.    Spade  Husbandry 122 

VOL.  I.  a 


7479:17 


IV  INDEX. 

PAGE 

XVU.    Condition  of  the  Laborers 133 

XVIII.    Progress  of  Agriculture,  compared  witli  other  Pursuits 144 

XIX.     Actual  Improvements  in  English  Agriculture 148 

1.  Draining,  Irrigation,  and  Warping 148 

2.  Live  Stock  and  Vegetables 150 

3.  Agricultural  Implements 150 

4.  Application  of  Steam  to  Agriculture 151 

5.  Increased  Production 159 

6.  Royal  Agricultural  Society 160 

7.  Agricultural  Society  of  Scotland 166 

XX.    Relation  of  Landlord  and  Tenant 167 

XXI.    Game  and  the  Game  Laws 173 

XXII.    The  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  Ireland 175 

XXm.     Model  Farm,  and  Agricultural  School 170 

XXIV.    Dublin  Botanical  Garden 186 


THIRD  REPORT. 

XXV.    Agricultural  Education. 189 

1.  Glasnevin  Agricultural  School 196 

2.  Templemoyle  Agricultural  School • 203 

3.  Brookfield  Agricultural  School 210 

4.  Larne  School 216 

5.  School  at  Ealing 218 

6.  Agricultural  College  at  Cirencester 219 

XX VL    General  Views  of  Agricultural  Education .220 

XXVII.    Influence  of  Knowledge  upon  Agriculture 223 

XXVIII.    Sciences  to  be  taught 225 

XXIX.    Chemical  Science 226 

XXX.    Analysis  of  Soils 228 

Soils  of  Heaths 229 

XXXI.    Natural  Science 237 

XXXIL    Model  Farm 239 

XXXIII.  Experimental  Farm 240 

XXXIV.  Economical  Arrangements  at  the  Agricultural  College 240 

XXXV.  Plan  of  an  Agricultural  Institution  for  the  United  States.  ...244 

XXX VL    Elevation  of  Agriculture  as  a  Pursuit  and  a  Profession 248 

XXXVn.    Rural  Manners  in  England 251 

XXXVIIL    A  Pencil  Sketch 252 

XXXIX.    Life  in  the  Country 256 


INDEX.  •         V 

PAGE 

XL.  Veterinary  College 257 

XLI.  Museum  of  Economic  Geology 263 

XLII.  Chemical  Agricultural  Association  in  Scotland 265 

XLIII.  Chemical  Agricultural  Lectures 267 

XUV.  Employment  of  Agriculturists 268 

XLV.  Guano 270 


XLVL 

XLVn. 

XLVUL 

XUX. 

L. 

LL 


LIL 


HIL 
LIV. 


LV. 
LVL 


FOURTH  REPORT. 

General  Considerations 285 

Agriculture  as  a  Commercial  Pursuit 294 

Markets.    Cattle  Markets 297 

Falkirk  Tryst 299 

The  Ballinasloe  Fair 300 

The  Galway  Fair 301 

1.  Temperance  in  Ireland 301 

2.  The  Galway  Women 302 

Smithfield,  London 304 

1.  Forms  of  Business  in  Smithfield 306 

2.  Weights  and  Measures 307 

3.  Weight  of  Animals,  Mode  of  ascertaining 308 

4.  Amount  of  Business 312 

5.  Character  and  Quality  of  Stock 314 

6.  Smithfield  by  Night 317 

7.  Attempted  Removal  of  the  Market  from  the  City 319 

8.  Chartered  Rights 321 

Grain  Markets 323 

Kinds  of  Bread.    Maize,  or  Indian  Corn 324 

Grain  Markets  out  of  London 325 

1.  Forms  of  Business 326 

2.  Advantages  and   Convenience   of  such    Markets   in  the 

United  States 327 

3.  Modes  of  Selling 328 

4.  Multiplication  of  Markets  in  England 329 

The  Corn  Exchange  in  Mark  Lane,  London 330 

Cora  Duties 330 

1.  Arguments  for  Protection 332 

2.  Arguments  against  Protection 333 

3.  Moral  Views  of  the  Question 334 

4.  Patriotism  and   Philanthropy 334 


VI 


LVII. 


LVIII. 


LIX. 

LX. 

LXI. 


LXII. 


INDEX. 

Page 

5.  Proper  Ends  of  National  Policy 335 

6.  Bread  regarded  in  a  peculiar  Light 336 

7.  Peculiar  Condition  of  the  English  Laboring  Population. . .  .337 

8.  Excess  of  Population 339 

Mode  of  adjusting  Labor  and  Wages 34i 

1.  Experiment  in  Germany 342 

2.  Claims  of  Labor,  and  Duties  of  Wealth 343 

3.  Results  of  the  German  Experiment 345 

4.  Scotch  Customs.    A  Digression 346 

The  Dead-Meat  Markets 347 

1.  Slaughter-Houses  in  London 349 

2.  Customs  of  the  Jews 351 

3.  Mode  of  slaughtering  Animals 352 

Vegetable  and  Fruit  Markets 355 

Market  Gardens 373 

Covent-Garden  Market 378 

1.  Fruits  and  Vegetables 378 

2.  Flowers 380 

General  Markets 38ii 


FIFTH  REPORT. 


LXII.    General  Markets,  (continued.) 385 

LXni.    General  Remarks    and  Divisions   of  the   Subject  of  English 

Farming 386 

LXIV.    The  Soil 389 

LXV.    Theories  of  the  Operation  of  the  Soil 392 

LXVL    A  Modern  Discovery 398 

LXVIL     Soils  of  Great  Britain 401 

LXVin.    Classification  of  Soils 403 

LXIX.    Physical  Properties  of  the  Soil 404 

1.  Wetness  of  a  Soil 404 

2.  Power  to  absorb  Moisture  in  a  Soil 405 

3.  Consistency  and  Friability  of  Soils 407 

4.  Temperature  of  Soils 408 

LXX.    Peaty  Soil 410 

LXXL    Loamy  Soils 412 

LXXII.    Humus,  or  Vegetable  Mould 413 

LXXIIL    Peculiarities  of  Soil 416 

LXXIV.     Application  of  Chemistry  to  Agriculture 417 


INDEX.  Vll 

PAGE. 

LXXV.    Theory  of  Agriculture 418 

LXXVI.    Actual  Improvements 420 

LXXVII.    Ploughing 421 

LXXVIII.    The  English  Character.    A  Digression 422 

LXXIX.    The  Perfection  of  Ploughing 423 

LXXX.    Ploughing  Match  at  Saffron  Walden 424 

LXXXT.    General  Rules  for  Ploughing 427 

1.  Lapping  in  Ploughing 433 

2.  Ribbing,  or  Raftering 433 

3.  Laying  in  Beds,  or  Stitches 434 

4.  Lazy-Bed  Cultivation. 436 

5.  Correct  Ploughing. 440 

6.  Trench-Ploughing 443 

7.  Subsoil-Ploughing 448 

8.  Experiment  in  Subsoiling  Heath  Land 451 

9.  Subturf-Plough 454 

10.  Perfection  of  English  Ploughing. 454 

11.  Ploughing  Matches 456 

12.  Horses  used  for  Ploughing 459 

LXXXIL    A  Digression 461 

LXXXIII.    Improved  Machinery 462 

1.  Machinery  lightens  Labor 462 

2.  Machinery  increases  Production 464 

3.  General  Effects  on  Labor. 466 

LXXXIV.    Moral  Considerations 468 

LXXXV.    Harrowing 469 

LXXXVL     Scarifying,  or  Grubbing 47^ 

LXXXVII.    General  Remarks  on  the  Use  of  Agricultural  Machinery.. .  .48J^ 
LXXXVIII.    Particular  Examples  of  Improvement 485 

1.  Tehidy 485 

2.  Scobell's  Farm 486 

LXXXIX.    Cornwall  and  the  Land's  End 491 

Table  of  Calculations  on  Ploughing 492 


Vm  INDEX. 


STEEL  ENGRAVINGS. 

The  English  Cart  Horse Fronting  title  page  to  first  volume. 

A  First  Prize  Short-Homed  Bull Frontispiece  to  Second  Report. 

A  West  Highland  Ox do Third  Report 

A  North  Devon  Steer do Fourth  Report. 

An  Aberdeenshire  Tolled  Bull do Fifth  Report 


WOOD  CUTS. 


PAGE. 


Side  Supports  for  Posts .20 

Fork  Spade 122 

Smith's  Subsoil  Plough 455 

Rackheath  Subsoil  Plough 455 

Subturf  Plough 455 

Double  Furrow  Plough 461 

Gang  of  Light  Seed  Harrows 472 

— Heavy  Iron  Harrows , 473 

Biddell's  Extirpating  Harrow 475 

Scarifier. 479 

Chisel  Pomt  and  Wide  Hoe,  to  Biddell's  Scarifier. 480 

Finlayson's  Self-cleaning  Harrow 481 

Kirkwood's  Grubber 481 

The  Uley  Cultivator. 482 


NAMES  OF  SUBSCRIBERS 


TO    THE    FIRST    EDITION. 


Massachusetts  Agri- 
cultural Society, 

New  York  State  Ag- 
ricultural Society, 

Worcester  County 
Agricultural  So- 
ciety, 

Philadelphia  Agri- 
cultural Society, 

American  Institute, 

Essex  County  Agri- 
cultural Society, 

Massachusetts  Hor- 
ticultural Society, 

Monroe  County  Ag- 
ricultural Society, 

Plymouth  Agricul- 
tural Society, 

Berkshire  County ' 
Agricultural  So- 1 
ciety, 

Hampshire,  Hamp- ' 
den,  and  Franklin 
Ag.  Society,  ' 

Agricultural  Society" 
of  Newcastle,  Del- 1 
aware, 

Livingston  County " 
Agricultural  So-  ] 
ciety, 

Library  of  Congress, 

Rhode  Island  Socie- " 
ty  of  Domestic  \ 
Man.  and  Ag. 


Copies. 
>  Boston,  Mass.      100 

I  Albany,  N.Y.       100 

C  "Worcester,  Mass.  40 

I  Philadelphia,  Pa.  40 
New  York,  N.Y.  40 
Essex  Co.,  Mass.  25 

Boston,  Mass.        25 

Rochester,  N.  Y.   25 

Plymouth,  Mass.  25 

Pittsfield,  Mass.    10 


Northampton, 

Mass. 


10 


.Wilmington,  Del.  10 

Geneseo,  Living- 
;     stonCo.,N.  Y.   10 

Washington,  D.  CIO 
•  Providence,  R.  I.    5 


John  P.  Gushing,  Watertown,  Mass. 

Hon,  T.  H.  Perkins,    Boston,  Mass. 

Samuel  Appleton, 

Joshua  Blake, 

Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence, 

Daniel  P.  Parker, 

John  Bryant, 

William  Appleton, 

Henry  Codman, 

John  A.  Lowell, 


Hon.  Nathan  Appleton, 
B.  B.  Mussey  &  Co. 


100 
50 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
25 
13 


Robert  G.  Shaw, 
J.  Breck  &  Co. 
E.  B.  Swett, 
Hon.  William  Sturgis, 
Hon.  Jonathan  Phillips, 
George  B.  Blake, 
James  Jackson,  M.  D. 
John  C.  Warren,  M.  D. 
Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr. 
Lucius  M.  Sargent, 
Israel  Munson, 
Wm.  Prescott,  LL.  D. 
Hon.  Edmund  Dwight, 
E.  H.  Robbins, 
Francis  Skinner, 
Henry  Oxnard, 
George  C.  Shattuck,  M.  D. 
Thomas  B.  Wales, 
Hon.  P.  C.  Brooks, 
Hon.  John  Welles, 
Hon.  David  Sears, 
Hon.  Samuel  A.  Eliot, 
George  Parkman,  M.  D. 
Hon.  Martin  Brimmer,  ) 
Mayor  of  Boston,        5 
Francis  G.  Shaw, 
Samuel  P.  Shaw, 
Hon.  John  C.  Gray, 
Jordan  &  Wiley, 
Saxton  &  Kelt, 
Frederic  Tudor, 
James  Munroe  &  Co. 
Isaac  Winslow, 
J.  H.  Francis, 
W.  D.  Ticknor  &  Co. 
Benjamin  Guild, 
Hon.  Samuel  Dorr, 
R.  B.  Forbes, 
George  B.  Emerson, 
William  Almy, 
Benjamin  T.  Reed, 
John  Parker, 


Boston,  Mass. 


George  Hayward,  M. 
John  D.  Williams, 
Thomas  A.  Dexter, 
William  P.  Mason, 
Sidney  Bartlett, 


D. 


Copies. 

12 

11 

10 

10 

10 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


L.  Downer,  Jr. 

Joseph  Balch, 

Nathan  Rice, 

Benjamin  Loring, 

Caleb  Eddy, 

Thomas  W.  Phillips, 

Edward  Brooks, 

Hon.  Sam'l  T.  Armstrong 
Ex-Lieut.  Governor, 

Samuel  Greele, 

William  Worthington, 

J.  W.  Paige, 

Andrew  T.  Hall, 

Benjamin  Rich, 

Davis  &  Blake, 

Edward  Renouf, 

John  S.  Blake, 

Isaac  P.  Davis, 

Charles  H.  Mills, 

Frederic  H.  Bradleo, 

Rev.  Samuel  Barrett, 

J.  M.  Smith, 

Jeremiah  Mason,  LL.  D. 

Jacob  Bigelow,  M.  D. 

Benjamin  ShurtleiF,  M.  D 
Rev.  Chandler  Robbins, 
M.  P.  Wilder, 
William  W.  Stone, 
William  Lawrence, 
Hon.  James  M.  Robbins 
Hon.  William  Jackson, 
Ebenezer  Wight, 
Robert  Waterston, 
Abiel  Chandler, 
Edward  Tuckerman, 
Charles  Sprague, 
John  Tappan, 
T.  W.  Ward, 
Joseph  Whitney, 
John  Pickering,  LL.  D. 
Henry  W.  Dutton, 
James  Wentworth, 
Hon.  Willard  Phillips, 
Samuel  E.  Sewall, 
P.  O.  Thacher, 
Benjamin  Shurtleff,  Jr. 
Amtni  C.  Lombard, 
Robert  G.  Shaw,  Jr. 
G.  H.  Shaw, 
William  Perkins, 
John  Tyler, 
Charles  Barnard, 
Joel  Nourse, 
William  Shimmin, 
Prince  Hawes, 
Augustus  Aspinwall, 
Ebenezer  Francis, 
Hon.  B.  F.  Copeland, 
Isaac  Danforth, 
William  P.  Winchester, 
J.  P.  Blanchard, 
H.  I.  Martin,  M.  D. 
Richard  D.  Harris, 
Samuel  Henshaw, 
Joseph  Southwick, 
Rev.  John  Pierpont, 
George  Tyler  Bigelow, 
Samuel  Frothingham, 
Hon.  Thomas  Motley, 
Samuel  May, 


Copies. 
Boston,  Mass.         2 


George  Hallet,  Boston,  Mass. 

Samuel  C.  Gray,  " 

Thaddeus  Nichols,  « 

N.  G.  Snelling,  " 

Isaac  Cook,  " 

Charles  P.  Curtis,  " 

George  W.  Tyler,  " 

Fitz  Henry  Homer,  " 

Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  " 

Hon.  Rufus  Choate,  " 

Jonathan  French,  " 

David  S.  Greenough,  *' 

A.  Parris,  « 

John  Deane,  " 

James  L.  Baker,  " 

Rev.  Hubbard  Winslow,  " 

C.  M.  Hovey  &  Co. 

Hon.  Horace  Mann,  '' 

Rev.  Samuel  K.  Lothrop,  " 

Rev.  Ezra  S.  Gannett,  D.  D.  " 

Hon.  John  A.  Bolles,  " 

Hon.  Charles  F.  Adams,  " 

Prof.  George  Ticknor,  " 

Charles  T.  Jackson,  M.  D.  " 

Samuel  Hooper,  " 

Ozias  Goodwin,  " 

Joseph  W.  Revere,  " 

Wm.  F.  Harnden,  " 

Wm.  J.  Niles,  '- 

Hon.  Jeffrey  Richardson,  " 

Wendell  Phillips,  " 

D.  Prouty  &  Co.  " 
Rev.  C.  A.  Bartol,  " 
Alfred  A.  Andrews,  " 
Hon.  John  R.  Adan,  '' 
William  Stickney,  " 
Hon.  Albert  Fearing,  " 
Cheever  Newhall,  " 
George  Newhall,  " 
Francis  C.  Lowell,  " 
Rev.  John  T.  Sargent,  " 
Charles  P.  Crane,  " 
Ebenezer  Chadwick,  " 
P.  T.  Jackson,  " 
G.  C.  Trumbull,  ''• 
I.  E.  Teschemacher,  " 
George  Browne,  " 
Henry  L.  Daggett,  " 
William  Foster,  " 
J.  G.  Palfrey,  LL.  D.,  D.  D.  " 
Ellis  Gray  Loring,  " 
Edmund  Jackson,  " 
James  Boyd,  " 
Samuel  Cabot,  " 
J.  Baker,  " 
John  Pickens,  " 
Henry  Gassett,  " 
John  Lamson,  " 
Hon.  Stephen  Fairbanks,  '' 
Caleb  Andrews,  " 
James  Hayward,  " 
Rev.  G.  W.  Blagden,  " 
Thomas  B.  Curtis,  " 
W.  T.  Eustis,  « 
Thomas  Lee,  " 
Rev.  Fred.  D.  Huntington,  '' 
John  Collamore,  " 
Rev.  Louis  Dwight,  " 
N.  C.  Keep,  M.  D. 

Charles  McBurney,  " 


Copies. 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


XI 


Copies. 
John  Haskins,  Boston,  Mass. 

Otis,  Broaders,  &  Co.  " 

Edward  Chamberlain,  " 

Richard  Soule,  •' 

Henry  Burditt,  " 

William  Jennison,  " 
Miss  Clara  Crowninshield,   '• 

Henry  Jaques,  " 

Mace  Tisdale,  Jr.  *' 

Charles  C.  Mead,  " 

Wm.  R.  Deane,  " 

C.  P.  Bosson,  " 
Thomas  Davis,  " 
Dr.  A.  B.  Wheeler,  " 
Joseph  lasigi,  " 
A.  B.  Weston,  " 
John  G.  Chandler,  " 
Henry  Rice,  " 
Hotchkiss  &  Co.  " 
Chs.  R.  Bond  &  Co.  " 
Jas.  Ellison,  " 
Hatch  &  Co.  « 
Z.  Hosmer,  '♦ 
M.  Field  Fowler,  " 
John  Preston,  " 
Wm.  A.  Davis,  " 
E.  Haskett  Derby,  " 
R.  S.  Denny,  " 
Rev.  J.  I.  T.  Coolidge,  " 
Chs.  C.  Parsons,  " 
Walter  Baker,  " 

D.  P.  Simpson,  " 

E.  B.  Chase,  " 
C.  M.  Hovey,  " 
Thomas  Groom,  " 
J.  S.  C.  Greene,  " 
David  Paige,  " 
J.  H.  Jenks,  " 

F.  J.  Oliver,  « 

S.  G.  Howe,  M.  D.,  South  Boston,  Mass. 
James  Brown,  Watertown,  Mass. 

Wm.  A.  White,  " 
Joseph  Story,  LL.  D.,  Cambridge,  Mass.      5 

Jo^iah  Quincy,  LL.  D.  ^  <<  ^ 


Pres.  ofHarv.  Univ.  > 
Rev.  Andrews  Norton, 
William  Pomeroy, 
Prof.  James  Walker,  D.  D, 
N.  J.  Wyeth, 
O.  S.  Keith, 
Prof.  Jared  Sparks, 
Rev.  R.  M.  Hodges, 
J.  E.  Worcester, 
Rev.  Wm.  Newell, 
Charles  C.  Little, 
Rev.  Daniel  Austin, 


Hon.  Theodore  Lyman,  Brookline,  Mass.  5 

Benjamin  Goddard,  "  2 

John  Howe,  "  1 

Rev.  John  Pierce,  D.  D.       "  1 

Moses  Jones,  "  1 

Samuel  Philbrick,  "  1 

John  Hayden,  "  1 

Samuel  Weld,  Roxbury,  Mass.  1 

A.  D.  Williams,  Jr.  "  1 

Rev.  George  Putnam,  '•  1 

Rev.  Allen  Putnam,  ''  1 

Hon.  Sam'l  H.  Walley,  Jr.  "  1 
George  R.  Russell,  West  Roxbury,  Mass.    1 

Joseph  H.  Billings,  "  1 


Copies. 
Francis  Geo.  Shaw,  West  Roxbury,  Mass. 
Aaron  D.  Weld,  " 

George  Ripley,  " 

William  Keith,  " 

John  Parkinson,  " 

Rev.  Theodore  Parker,         " 
John  Prince,  Jamaica  Plains,  Roxbury, 
Francis  C.  Head,  " 

Gen.  Wm.  H.  Sumner,  " 
Charles  W.  Greene,  " 

Stephen  M.  Weld, 
John  J.  Low,  " 

M.  W.  Greene, 
Benjamin  D.  Emerson,        " 
John  M.  Fessenden,  " 

F.  E.  Faxon, 

Isaac  Parker,  Waltham,  Mass. 

Benj.  Wellington,  " 

Rev.  George  E.  Ellis,  Charlestown,  Mass. 
Samuel  Jaques,  " 

John  Fenno,  Chelsea,  Mass. 

Hon.  Jno.  Quincy  Adams,  > /-.   .„„„  -mt^^^ 
Ex-President  of  U.  S.     J  ^""^^^^  ^^^^ 
Rev.  Francis  Cunningham,  Milton,  Mass. 
Joseph  Rowe,  " 

Danforth  P.  Wight,  M.  D.,  Dedham,  Mass 
Rev.  John  White,  " 

Rev.  Alvan  Lamson,  D.  D.  " 

George  Richardson,  Dorchester  Mass. 
Increase  S.  Smith,  " 

F.  W.  Macondray,  " 

Joseph  Peabody,  Salem,  Mass.         10 

Hon.  S.  C.  Phillips,  "  5 

Nathaniel  West,  "  5 

Hon.  Nathaniel  Silsbee,         "  •  3 

Francis  Peabody,  "  2 

Hon.  Leverett  Saltonstall,    "  2 

Wm.  H.  Neal,  "  2 

Hon.  D.  L.  Pickman,  «  2 

Robert  Stone,  "  2 

John  H.  Silsbee,  "  2 

Hon.  D.  A.  ^Vhite,  " 

J.  H.  Ward,  " 

Asahel  Huntington,  " 

Wm.  F.  Gardner,  " 

Jno.  Fisk  Allen,  " 

Jno.  C.  Lee,  " 

Amos  Choate,  " 

D.  A.  Neal,  « 
John  G.  King,  " 
Oliver  Hubbard,  M.  D.  " 
Benjamin  Merrill,  " 
Wm.  Deane,  " 
Charles  Saunders,  " 
David  Merritt,  " 
John  Jewett,  " 
Erastus  Ware,  ** 
Nathaniel Frothingham,  Jr.  " 
J.  Chadwick,  " 
John  Robinson,  " 
J.  S.  Cabot,  '< 
Jno.  F.  Andrew,  " 
Nathan  Endicott,  " 
Hon.  G.  Barstow,  " 
Joseph  S.  Leavitt,                  " 

E.  Hersey  Derby,  " 
Gideon  Tucker,  " 
D.  &  J.  Pulsifer,  " 
A.  &  D.  Lord,  " 
Benjamin  F.  Browne,           " 


Xll 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


Copies. 
Robert  Brookhouse,     Salem,  Mass. 

Rev.  Charles  W.  Upham,  " 

Frederic  Howes,  " 

Pickering  Dodge,  " 

George  Choate,  M.  D.  " 

Samuel  Briggs,  " 

Gen.  Wm.  Sutton,  " 

Jos.  G.  Waters,  " 

Hon.  Stephen  P.  "Webb,  " 

Charles  A.  Andrew,  " 

Caleb  Foote,  " 

Wm.  Ives,  " 

John  W.  Pepper,  " 

John  G.  Treadwell,  M.  D.  " 

Joseph  E.  Sprague,  " 

N.  W.  Neal,  " 

Michael  Shepard,  " 

James  Chamberlain,  " 

B.  K.  Churchill,  " 
Henry  Whipple, 
Henry  A.  Breed,  Lynn,  Mass. 

""E^Sr^fSS"'!  Taunton.  Mass. 

Hon.  Edward  Baylies,  " 

Wm.  A.  Crocker,  " 
Stephen  Salisbury,  Worcester,  Mass. 
S.  B.  Woodward,  M.  D. 

Hon.  Levi  Lincoln,  Ex-  )  „ 

Governor  of  Mass.        \ 

Hon.  John  Davis,  Ex-  )  ,, 

Governor  of  Mass.       3 

Daniel  Waldo,  " 
Joseph  G.  Kendall, 

Edwin  Conant,  " 

John  W.  Lincoln,  " 

S.  M.  Burnside,  " 

William  Lincoln,  " 

A.  D.  Foster,  " 
W.  A.  Wheeler, 

Isaac  Davis,  " 

Charles  Allen,  " 

Rejoice  Newton,  " 

Hon.  Pliny  Merrick,  " 

L.  A.  Dowley,  " 

Hon.  Thomas  Kinnicutt,       " 

Emory  Washburn,  " 

H.  S.  Wheaten, 

Oliver  Dean,  M.  D.,  Framingham,  Mass. 

Wm.  A.  Lander,  Danvers,  Mass. 

Hon.  Daniel  P.  King,  " 

Jno.  W.  Proctor,  " 

Benjamin  Wheeler,  '* 

Rev.  Andrew  Bigelow^  " 

Benjamin  Goodridge,  " 

Charles  Lawrence,  North  Danvers,  Mass. 

Enoch  Silsby,  Bradford,  Mass. 

Rev.  Thomas  B.  Fox,  Newburyport,  Mass. 

Edward  Tappan,  Jr.  " 

Jno.  Porter,  " 

Micajah  Lunt,  ** 

Jeremiah  Colman,  " 

Jno.  Gray,  Jr.  " 

David  Wood,  " 

Hon.  E.  S.  Rand,  " 

B.  B.  Titcomb,  " 
Daniel  Adams,  3d,  Newbury,  Mass. 
Moses  Newell,  West  Newbury,  Mass. 
Wells  Lathrop,  South  Hadley,  Mass. 
Hon.  David  Cummins,    Springfield,  Mass.  2 
Hon.  W.  B.  Calhoun,  "  1 


Copies 
Jas.  W.  Crooks,  Springfield,  Mass. 
Justin  Ely,  West  Springfield,  Mass. 
Hon.  Benja.  V.  French,  Braintree,  Mass. 
Hon.  James  H.  Duncan,  Haverhill,  Mass. 
Joseph  Howe,  Methuen,  Mass. 
Hon.  D.Webster,  LL.D.,Marshfield,  Mass. 
Hon.  Nath'l  B.  Borden,  Fall  River,  Mass. 

A.  Robeson,  Jr.  " 
Wm.  R.  Robeson,  " 
John  Flint,           Andover,  Mass. 
Joseph  Kittredge,             " 
Stephen  Barker,                " 
Jedediah  H.  Barker,        " 
Samuel  Farrar,                  " 
Hon.  G.  P.  Osgood,         " 

J.  J.  Brown,  " 

Geo.  Hodges,  North  Andover,  Mass. 

N.  W.  Hazen,  South  Andover,  Mass. 

D.  L.  Child,       Northampton,  Mass. 

Hon.  Joseph  Lyman,       " 

Rev.  Rufus  Ellis,  " 

Edward  Clarke,  " 

Wm.  Clarke, 

Wm.  A.  Hawley,  " 

Daniel  Stebbins,  M.  D.    " 

Hon.  Isaac  C.  Bates,        " 

Hon.  George  T.  Davis,  Greenfield,  Mass. 

Hon.  C.  K.  Grennell,  " 

Alpheus  F.  Stone,  M.  D.         " 

Daniel  Wells,  " 

Wendell  P.  Davis,  « 

Henry  W.  Clapp,  " 

David  Willard, 

James  Deane,  M.  D.  " 

Rev.  Samuel  May,  Leicester,  Mass. 

W.  B.  Earle, 

J.  L.  Moffat,  Newton,  Mass. 

William  Kenrick,      " 

G.  B.  Slater,  Webster,  Mass. 

Hon.  F.  R.  Gourgas,  Weston,  Mass. 

Hon.  Benjamin  Estabrook,  Athol,  Mass. 

Hon.  Solomon  Strong,  Leominster,  Mass. 

Hon.  George  B.  Upton,  Nantucket,  Mass. 

George  W.  Wright,  " 

Henry  Swift,  " 

Barker  Burnell,  " 

John  P.  Webber,  Jr.  Beverly,  Mass. 

Rev.  C.  T.  Thayer,         '« 

Hon.  Jesse  Perkins,  N.  Bridgewater,  Mass. 

Hon.  H.  W.Cushman,  Bernardston,  Mass 

Horace  Williams,  Deerfield,  Mass. 

Arthur  W.  Hoyt,  " 

Theodore  G.  Huntington,  Hadley,  Mass. 

Col.  David  Wells,  Shelburne,  Mass. 

.Tames  N.  Bates,  Barre,  Mass. 

B.  D.  Whitney,  Northboro'  Mass, 
Gen.  Josiah  Newhall,  Lynnfield,  Mass. 
Hiram  A.  Morse,  Holliston,  Mass. 
Wm.  R.  Rodman,  New  Bedford,  Mass. 
S.  W.  Rodman, 

Benjamin  Rodman,  •* 

George  Randall,  " 

Charles  W.  Morgan,  " 

John  Henry  Clifford,  " 

George  Howland,  Jr.  " 

William  P.  Grinnell,  " 

William  Rotch,  Jr.  « 

William  R.  Rotch,  " 

Edmund  Gardiner,  " 

William  C.  Whitridge,  " 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


Xlll 


Copies. 
"William  Hathaway,  Jr.,  New  Bedford, 
Matthew  Luce,  " 

J.  H.  W.  Page.  " 

John  C.  Haskell,  " 

Thomas  R.  Robeson,  " 

Frederic  Robeson,  " 

Joseph  Ricketson,  " 

Daniel  Ricketson,  " 

Abraham  Shearman,  Jr.  ** 

John  W.  Coggeshall,  " 

Samuel  L.  Dana,  Lowell,  Mass. 

John  Avery,  " 

Samuel  Lawrence,  " 

"William  Spencer,  " 

B.  F.  French,  " 

Alexander  Wright,  " 

S.  W,  Stickney,  " 

John  Nesmith,  " 

G.  W.  Larrabee,  " 

John  Clark,  " 

Rev.  H.  A.  Miles,  " 

William  Boott,  " 

Daniel  Bixby,  " 

Amasa  Farrier,  Stoneham,  Mass. 
John  Abbott,  Westford,  Mass. 
H.  C.  Merriam,  North  Tewksbury,  Mass. 
N.  B.  Robbins,  Plymouth,  Mass. 
Mrs.  Susan  Sedgwick,  Stockbridge,  Mass. 
Elias  M.  Stillwell,  Lancaster,  Mass. 
Paul  Whitin,  Whitinsville,  Mass. 
John  Page,  Hardwick,  Mass. 
S.  B.  Walcott,  Hopkinton,  Mass. 

Johnson  Gardner,  M.  D.  P^^'^^^^'^^'^'  1 


William  Jenkins,       Providence,  R.  I. 
Alexander  Duncan,  " 

Moses  B.  Ives,  " 

Rev.  Samuel  Osgood,  " 

Joseph  Mauran,  M.  D.  " 

Samuel  B.  Wheaton,  " 

William  H.  Hoppin,  " 

Amory  Chapin,  ** 

Edward  Walcott,  " 

Hartford  Tingley,  " 

Robert  H.  Ives,  *' 

Amasa  Sprague,  " 

R.  W.  Greene, 
Rev.  F.  Wayland,  D.  D.,  )      „ 

Pres.  of  Brown  Univ.    5 
Henry  Anthony,  " 

John  I.  Stimpson,  " 

Benjamin  W.  Comstock,        *' 
Stephen  H.  Smith,  " 

Hon.  James  Fenner,        )      <t 

Gov.  of  Rhode  Island,  5 
Owen  Mason,  " 

Matthew  Watson,  " 

Josiah  Chapin,  " 

Adam  Anthony,  North  Providence,  R.  I. 
Mark  Antony  De  Wolfe,  Bristol,  R.  I. 
Wm.  Bradford  De  Wolfe,       " 
Jacob  Dunnell,  Pawtucket,  R.  I. 
James  C.  Rome,  Woonsocket,  R.  I. 
Henry  Whitney,  New  Haven,  Conn.        2 
Prof.  B.  Silliman,  LL.  D.        " 
Charles  Robinson,  " 

Winthrop  Atwill,  " 

Prof.  B.  Silliman,  Jr.  " 

William  K.  Townsend,  " 


Conn. 


tford.  Conn. 


Copies, 
Hon.  Wm.  H.  Boardman,  N.  Haven,  Con. 
J.  T.  Norton,         Farmington,  Conn. 
Simeon  Hart, 
E.  W.  Carrington, 
W.  Wadsworth, 
Timothy  Cowles, 
S.  H.  Huntington,  Hartfo; 
Horatio  Alden, 
A.  M.  Collins, 

D.  C.  Collins, 
Charles  F.  Pond, 
Hon.  Jno.  M.  Niles, 

E.  W.  Bull, 
George  Tuttle, 
T.  C.  Perkins, 
Hon.  J.  Toucey, 
Walter  Mitchell, 
S.  G.  Chaflfee, 
James  Dixon, 
Isaac  Stuart, 
George  Brimley, 
Solomon  Porter, 
Solomon  Olmsted,  East  Ha; 
Charles  H.  Olmsted, 
S.  E.  Alden,  Enfield,  Conn. 
Henry  Thompson,     " 
Levi  Durand,  Derby,  Conn. 
Charles  A.  Goodrich,  Berlin,  Conn. 
Norman  Porter,  " 

Chas.  W.  Rockwell,  Norwich,  Conn. 

Jacob  W.  Kinney,  " 

Amos  H.  Hubbard,  " 

William  P.  Green,  " 

John  A.  Rockwell,  " 

Ralph  H.  Avery,  " 

E.  B.  Brown,  Mystic,  Conn. 

Joseph  Griswold,  Mystic  Bridge,  Conn. 

A.  Woodward,  M.  D.,  Franklin,  Conn. 

H.  A.  Dyer,  Brooklyn,  Conn. 

Wm.  G.  Johnson,  Uncasville,  Conn. 

J.  S.  Halsey,  Preston,  Conn. 

Giles  Taintor,  Windham,  Conn. 

Hon.  C.  F.  Cleveland,  )  tt„_^4.„„   o^ 

Ex.  Gov.  of  Conn.     \  Hampton,  Conn. 
Daniel  Russell,      Portland,  Conn. 
Joseph  Hall,  " 

Joel  Hall,  2d, 

E.  W.  N.  Starr,  Middletown,  Conn. 
Sam'l  D.  Hubbard,  " 

Alfred  Hubbard,  " 

Charles  Hubbard,  " 

Samuel  Russell,  " 

Joseph  Hurlbut,  New  London,  Conn. 
Chas.  A  Lewis,  " 

Wm.  P.  Cleveland,  " 

Wm.  W.  Billings,  " 

Lemuel  Stoughton,  East  Windsor,  Conn. 
Azel  S.  Bowe,  " 

Erastus  Ellsworth,  " 

Henry  Watson,  " 

Ralph  R.  Phelps,  Manchester,  Conn. 

E.  Holcomb,  Granby,  Conn. 

D.  W.  Grant,  Bloomfield,  Conn. 

•  Filley, 

Hon.  G.  Merrick,  S.  Glastenbury,  Conn. 
Daniel  Packer,  Packersville,  Conn. 
Bethuel  Phelps,  Warehouse  Ft.,  Conn. 
Alvah  Morrell,  " 

F.  W.  Wilcox,  Salem,  Conn. 
Lucian  T.  Pearson,  Collinsvillc,  Conn. 


XIV 


NAMES    OP    SUBSCRIBERS. 


Copies. 

E.  C.  Andrews,  Portland,  Me. 

H.  J.  Little,  '' 

James  Deering,  " 

Joshua  Richardson,     " 

William  Willis,  « 

Neal  Dow,  " 

John  Otis,  Hallowell,  Me. 

Glazier,  Masters,  &  Smith,  " 

Hon.  Reuel  Williams,  Augusta,  Me. 

Hon.  Samuel  M.  Pond,  Bucksport,  Me. 

W.  A.  Hayes,  South  Berwick,  Me. 

R.  B.  Allen,  Belfast,  Me. 

E.  Seymour,  Brattleboro',  Vt. 

John  PI.  Hopkins,  Jr.,  Burlington,  Vt. 

Rev.  John  Wheeler,  D.  D.       " 

Prof.  Geo.  W.  Benedict,  « 

E.  T.  Englesby,  " 

H.  B.  Stacey,  " 

N.  B.  Haswell,  " 

Harry  Bradley,  " 

Hon.  Geo.  P.  Marsh,  " 

Jno.  N.  Pomeroy,  " 

Carlos  Baxter,  " 

Luther  Loomis,  " 

N.  A.  Tucker,  " 

David  Read,  " 

H.  S.  Morse,  Shelburne,  Vt. 

L.  S.  White,  " 

S.  Grout,  Bellows  Falls,  Vt. 

Charles  K.  Field,  Newfane,  Vt. 

Hon.  Wm.  Jarvis,  Weathersfield,  Vt. 

Jos.  P.  Fairbanks,  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt. 

George  W,  Palmer,  Brandon,  Vt. 

Hon.  Levi  Woodbury,  Portsmouth,  N.  H 

Hon.  Ichabod  Bartlett,  " 

Samuel  Lord,  " 

John  Rice,  '•' 

Jno.  N,  Sherburne,  " 

H.  W.  Peirce,  " 

Rev.  John  Parkman,  Dover,  N.  H. 

R.  B.  David,  Amherst,  N.  H. 

Josiah  H.  Hobbs,  Wakefield,  N.  H. 

Levi  Bartlett,  Warner,  N.  H. 

W.  B.  Walton,         Schenectady,  N.  Y. 

Rev.  John  Williams,  " 

Jona.  Crane,  " 

Prof.  Alonzo  Potter,  D.  D.    " 

Prof.  J.  W.  Jackson,  " 

D.  &  C.  H.  Tomlinson,         " 

Alexander  Walsh,  Lansingburgh,  N.  Y. 

Maj.  Gen.  John  I.  Viele,      " 

Alfred  Clarke,  East  Springfield,  N.  Y. 

John  B.  James,  Rhinebeck,  N.  Y. 

John  H.  Walsh,   Newburgh,  N.  Y. 

Charles  Downing,  " 

A.  J.  Downing,  " 

H.  D.  Grove,  Hoosick,  N.  Y. 

Anthony  Van  Bergen,  Coxsackie,  N.  Y. 

Tunis  J.  Van  Derveer,  Amsterdam,  N.  Y, 

Willis  Gaylord,  Otisco,  N.  Y. 

D.  D.  Campbell,  Rotterdam,  N.  Y. 
James  R.  Craig,  Niskayuna,  N.  Y. 
J.  Strachan,  Waterford,  N.  Y. 

E.  D.  Windt,  Fishkill,  Landing,  N.  Y. 
Peter  C,  Dubois,  " 
William  S.  Ver  Planck,  " 
John  B.  Wakeman,  Little  Falls,  N.  Y. 
John  Caldwell,  Salisbury,  N.  Y. 


Copies. 
Dr.  William  Bristol,    Utica,  N.  Y. 
E.  W.  Teackle,  " 

S.  D.  Childs,  " 

Capt.  William  Mervine,  " 
Edmund  A.  Wetmore,  " 
Theodore  P.  Ballou,  " 

Hamilton  Spencer,  " 

S.  V.  Aley, 

John  M.  Sherwood,  Auburn,  N.  Y.  5 

John  B.  Dill,                       "  5 

Hon.  Wm.  H.  Seward,      )  „  „ 

Ex-Gov.  of  New  York,  5  -^ 

James  C.  Derby,                   "  1 

E.  Rhodes,  Manlius,  N.  Y.  1 

L.  A.  Morrell,  Lansing,  N.  Y.  2 

P.  V.  C.  Miller,  Shawangunk,  N.  Y.  1 

W.  A.  S.  North,  Duanesburgh,  N.  Y.  1 

L.  W.  Hall  &  Co.,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  5 

P.  N.  Rust,                           "  2 

Rev.  J.  P.  B.  Storer,           "  1 

Russell  KnifFen,  Trenton,  N.  Y.  1 

Elon  Comstock,         Rome,  N.  Y.  1 

Benj'amin  P.  Johnson,         "  1 

Benjamin  N.  Huntingdon, "  1 

Robert  Sandford,  Lenox,  N.  Y.  1 

M.  R.  Patrick,  Watertown,  N.  Y.  1 
Henry  S.  Randall,  Cortlandville,  N.  Y. 

George  I.  Pumpelly,  Oswego,  N.  Y.  25 

William  A.  Sacket,  " 

Samuel  D.  Tillman,  " 

C.  M.  Crittenden,  " 

A.  S.  &  C.  W.  Dey, 
Thomas  H.  Swaby,  " 

C.  L.  Hoskiijs,  " 

William  Arnett,  " 

H.  C.  Silsby,  " 

George  B.  Daniels,  " 

Edward  Myndun,  " 

Thomas  C.  Magee,  Tyre,  N.  Y. 
Jason  Smith,  " 

David  Southwick,  " 

J.  W.  Bacon,        Waterloo,  N.  Y. 
Richard  P.  Hunt,  " 

Aaron  D.  Lane,  " 

J.  Lisk,  Junius,  N.  Y. 

John  Carman,  " 

Orrin  Southwick,  " 

William  K.  Strong,  Fayette,  N.  Y. 
John  Johnstone,  " 

Henry  Reeder,  Varick,  N.  Y. 
John  D.  Cox,  Romulus,  N.  Y. 
G.  Dickerson,         Covert,  N.  Y. 
Jeremiah  Rappleye,         *' 
A.  M.  Farley,  " 

Abraham  Ditmus,  " 

Anson  Hopkins,  " 

John  L.  Eastman,   Lodi,  N.  Y. 
P.  W.  Severance,  " 

John  De  Mott,  " 

Arad  Joy,  Ovid,  N.  Y. 

A.  B.  Dunlap,  " 

William  R.  Schuyler,  " 
Andrew  Dunlap,  Jr.  " 
C.  I.  Sutton,  " 

Henry  Simpson,  " 

Joseph  Craven,  " 

Hugh  Chapman,  " 

Daniel  Scott,  " 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


X7 


Copies. 
John  I.  Covert,  Ovid,  N.  Y.  1 

Henry  M.  Ward,         Rochester,  NY.      3 

^  Samuel  D.  Porter,  ''                    3 

L.  B.  Langworthy,  "                    2 

Matthew  Brown,  M.  D.  "                    2 

C.  F.  Grossman,  " 
Henry  I.  Whitehouse,  D.  D. " 

Ebenezer  Watts,  '•' 

F.  Whittlesey,  « 

"  George  F.  Danforth,  " 

E.  Darwin  Smith,  " 

E.  Pomeroy,  '•' 

Graham  H,  Chapin,  " 
■"Edward  M.  Moore,  M.  D.       " 

E.  G.  Munn,  M.  D.  " 

W.  W.  Alcott, 

James  H.  Watts,  " 

Nathaniel  T.  Rochester,  " 

Henry  E.  Rochester,  " 

Thomas  H.  Rochester,  " 

-  William  Pitkin,    .—  « 

Samuel  Miller,  " 

Silas  O.  Smith,  " 

Ellwanger  &  Bari:y,  " 

Maltby  Strong,  M.  D.  " 

Amos  Sawyer,  '•' 

Strong  &  Dawson,  " 

John  Hawks,  " 

John  A.  Pitts,  « 

M.  B.  Bateham,  " 

Lewis  Thies,  " 

Aristarchus  Champion,  " 

Josiah  Snow,  " 

Alexander  Kelsey,  M.  D.  " 

John  Allen,  " 

Fletcher  M.  Haight,  " 

M.  F.  Reynolds,  « 

A.  Gardiner,  " 

I.  F.  Mack,  " 

Philander  Davis,  " 

Robert  Wilson,  « 

Moses  Chapin,  " 

Samuel  G.  Andrews,  " 

E.  F.  Smith,  « 

Hon.  Thomas  J.  Patterson,    " 

W.  E.  Lathrop,  " 

John  F.  Bush,  " 

John  Haywood,  " 

Prof.  Chester  Dewey,  -^i,.  " 

N.  B.  Northrop,  " 

James  W.  Sawyer,  " 

John  Rolph,  M.  D.  " 

James  Miller,  " 

Darius  Perrin,  " 

Rev.  Tryon  Edwards,  " 

Charles  Hendrix,  " 

David  R  Barton,  " 

Jasper  W.  Gilbert,  " 

Everard  Peck,  " 
'Frederick  F.  Backus,  M.  D.  " 

-Elias  Pond,  " 

Isaac  M.  Hall  &  Co.  " 

Horatio  N.  Fenn,  M.  D.  " 

Frederick  Starr,  " 

L.  A.  Ward,  " 

Stephen  Atwater,  " 

David  Hoyt,  " 

Leander  Wetherell,  " 

George  Shelton,  " 

H.  L.  Stevens,  " 

VOL.    I.  b 


Copies. 
John  Briggs,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

R.  Haight,  " 
Hon.  Thomas  Kempshall,    " 

Joseph  Hall,  w  « 

Charles  R.  Babbett,  " 

Hiram  Smith,  " 

Lewis  Brooks,  " 

Abelard  Reynolds,  " 

Hiram  Blanchard,  " 

Reuben  Sikes,  " 

George  Whitney,   '— i-  " 

Samuel  B.  Chase,  " 
William  W.  Mumford,  -^  " 
W.  A.  Herrick, 

John  Fish,  " 

John  Gifford,  " 

Aaron  Errickson,  ^i*^  " 

Allen  Mason,  " 

William  Kidd,  •-  « 

William  Buell,  '-  " 
John  B.  Elwood,  M.  D.  -    " 

Charles  O.  Shepard,  " 

Francis  Brown,  " 

Thomas  H.  Hyatt,  " 

William  Gerry,  " 

William  Brewster,  " 

School  District  No.  15,  " 

William  Law,  " 

Lewis  Denny,  " 

Ephraim  Moore,  " 

Josiah  W.  BisseU,  •  « 

William  H.  Cheney,  " 

David  Scoville,  " 

Joseph  Strong,  " 

George  A.  Wilkins,  " 

J.  George  Hodgkins,  " 

Nathan  B.  Gamsey,  " 
Hon.  John  Greig,  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.      10 

Hon.  Francis  Granger,  "  5 

Henry  Howard,  "  2 

John  Rankin,  "  2 

Oliver  Phelps,  "  2 

Charles  B.  Meek,  "  2 

John  A.  Granger,  "  2 

William  R.  Macao,  " 

Henry  K.  Sanger,  " 
Hon.  Mark  H.  Sibley, 

Thomas  Hall,  " 

Charles  Shepard,  ♦* 

Francis  W.  Paul,  " 

Thaddeus  Chapin,  " 

Walter  Hubbell,  " 

Alvah  Worden,  " 

Charles  Seymour,  " 

Isaac  Pierson,  " 

Thomas  H.  Johns,  " 

Samuel  H.  Andrews,  " 

Jos.  Bull,  " 

J.  L.  Stuart  Menteath,  " 

Alexander  Murray,  " 

William  Burling,  " 

Myron  H.  Clark,  " 

Henry  Howe,  " 

Jared  Wilson,  " 

Robert  Higham,  " 

G.  R.  Parbutt,  " 

R.  C.  Pratts,  " 
Oliver  Culver,  Brighton,  N.  Y.  ^^""^ 
Daniel  P.  Bissell,  Moscow,  N.  Y. 
S.  B.  Piper,  Lewiston,  N.  Y. 


xn 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


Copies, 
John  S.  Shuler,  M.  D.,  Lockport,  N.  Y. 
James  D.  Shuler,  " 

Timothy  Backus,  " 

Wm.  A.  Townserxd,  M.D.  " 

F.  N.  Nelson, 
T.  T.  Flagler,  " 
Aaron  Parsons,                   " 
Hon.  Washington  Hunt,  " 

A.  A.  Boyce,  " 
S.  Scovill,  " 
Edward  Hardy,  " 
N.  Dayton,  " 
O.  P.  Hoag, 
J.  Kilbourn, 

Hon.  Joel  McCollum,        " 
Trumbull  Gary,       Batavia,  N.  Y. 
Chipman  P.  Turner,  " 

H.  M.  Soper,  " 

T.  Fitch, 

J.  S.  Ganson,  ** 

Junius  A.  Smith,  " 

Frederick  Follett,  " 

Albert  Smith,  " 

J.  L.  Brown,  '* 

Ambrose  Stevens,  " 

Rufus  Robertson,  '* 

James  D.  Merrill,  " 

Shubael  Dunham,  " 

Lucius  A.  Smith,  " 

James  Brisbane,  " 

Samuel  Heston,  " 

Byron  Densmore,  Kendall,  N.  Y. 
Moses  B.  Gage,  " 

H.  W.  Bates, 

N.  Whitney,  " 

Henry  Higgins,  " 

Benjamin  Gariss,  Jr.,  Bloomfield,  N.  Y. 
Ralph  Wilcox,  " 

Rev.  Robert  W.  Hill, 
Frederick  F.  Rice,  " 

William  H.  Hall, 
Myron  Adams,  " 

B.  C.  Taft,  West  Bloomfield,  N.  Y. 
Jasper  C.  Peck,  " 
John  Dickson,  " 
Joseph  Hall,  " 
O.  Thompson,  " 
William  H.  Olin, 
Philo  Hamlin,  East  Bloomfield,  N.  Y. 

G.  Collins,  " 
Frederick  A.  Spalding,  " 
Sylvanus  Emmons,  " 
M.  S.  Newton,  Lima,  N.  Y. 
M.  W.  Brown,  " 
Henry  Grout,  " 
William  Arnold,  Jr.  '* 
George  W.  Atwill,  " 
Erastus  Clark,  " 
Ira  Godfrey,  " 
George  E.  King,  " 
Alexander  Martin,  " 
Robert  T.  Leach,  " 
Clitus  Wolcott,  Oakfield,  N.  Y. 
P.  M.  Smith,  Le  Roy,  N.  Y. 
Peter  Snell,  " 
John  Lent,  " 
William  Sheldon,  " 
A.  B.  Murphy,  " 
J.  H.  Stanley,  " 
Ebenezer  Mead,                  " 


Copies. 
S.  W.  Olmsted,  Le  Roy,  N.  Y. 

Noah  D.  Hart,  " 

William  W.  Peck,  " 

Cyrus  Brown,         Pembroke,  N.  Y. 
William  Cathcart,  " 

Rawson  Harmon,  Jr.,  Wheatland,  N.  Y. 
John  J.  Blackmer,  " 

Joseph  Garlinghouse,  Richmond,  N.  Y. 
Hiram  Pitts,  " 

J.  C.  Shelton,  " 

Elias  S.  Gilbert,  " 

Asa  Nowlen,  Avon,  N.  Y. 

Hon.  Henry  L.  Young,         " 
Luther  Briggs,      Brockport,  N.  Y. 
Hon.  E.  B.  Holmes,  " 

Horace  Wheeler,  Honeoye  Falls,  N.  Y. 
John  A.  Davis,  " 

Stephen  Barrett,  " 

John  Christopher,  Gates,  N.  Y. 
Charles  Godfrey,  Geneva,  N.  Y. 

Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Delancey, " 
Robert  C.  Nicholas,  " 

Jos.  Fellows,  " 

James  Reese,  " 

Gideon  Lee,  " 

Thomas  D.  Burrall,  " 

Elisha  Johnson,  Hornby  Lodge,  N.  Y. 
George  W.  Patterson,  Westfield,  N.  Y. 
C.  Robinson,  Clarendon,  N.  Y. 
Charles  Lee,  Farmingham,  N.  Y. 
Isaac  Colvin,  Henrietta,  N.  Y. 

M.  W.  Kirby, 

West  Henrietta  Library,       *' 
William  C.  Cornell,  " 

James  S,  Wadsworth,  Geneseo,  N.  Y.      10 
W.  W.  Wadsworth,  "  5 

James  Wadsworth,  "  5 

A.  Ayrault,  "  3 

E.  A.  Le  Roy,  "  2 

Thomas  H.  Newbold,  "  2 

Daniel  H.  Fitzhugh,  " 

George  T.  Olyphant  " 

C.  H.  Bryan,  « 

David  Piffard,  " 

H.  A.  Wilmerding,  " 

William  H.  Spencer,  " 

Samuel  Fitzhugh,  Mount  Morris,  N.  Y. 
Lucius  Southwick,  " 

J.  R.  Murray, 

William  T.  Cuyler,  Cuylerville,  N.  Y. 
N.  W.  Gardner,  Royalton,  N.  Y. 
Anson  Packard,  Bristol,  N.  Y. 
Lewis  F.  Allen,  Black  Rock,  N.  Y. 
N.  K.  Hall,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Hon.  Millard  Fillmore,         " 
A.  &  J.  McArthur,  " 

P.  Whitney,  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 
Luther  Wilson,  Wilson,  N.  Y. 
John  Robinson,  Palmyra,  N.  Y. 
Micah  Brooks,  Brooks  Grove,  N.  Y. 
Hon.  Asher  Tyler,  Ellicottville,  N.  Y 
Abiel  Baldwin,  Clarkson,  N.  Y. 
Owen  Edmonston,  Phelps,  N.  Y. 
E.  Willard  Frisbie, 
S.  Hildreth, 

Carso  Crane,  " 

Elias  Cost,  *' 

John  Lapham,  Farmington,  N.  Y. 
A.  Oliver,  Penn  Yann,  N.  Y. 
Henry  Welles,  " 


NAMES    or    SUBSCRIBERS. 


XVll 


Copies. 
S.  S.  Ellsworth,     Penn  Yan,  N.  Y. 
D.  A.  Ogden,  " 

George  A.  Shepard,  " 

H.  P.  Sartwell, 
Abraham  "Wagener,  " 

Alfred  Brown,  " 

Uri  Judd,  M.  D. 
Jonathan  A.  Hall,  " 

Nelson  Tunnicliff,  " 

P.  S.  Oliver,  " 

S.  R.  Fish,  " 

L.  E.  Lapham,  " 

John  Hatmaker,  Milo  Centre,  N.  Y. 
A.  B.  Hull,  Angelica,  N.  Y. 
George  Fisher,  Oswego,  N.  Y. 
George  Dean,  "Westmoreland,  N.  Y. 
Henry  Chamberlain,  York,  N.  Y. 
David  McDonald,  " 

Edward  Brown,  " 

Hollo wway  Long,  " 

G.  O.  J.  Du  Relle,  M.  D.  " 
Paul  Goddard,  " 

John  HoUowway,  " 

John  P.  Root,  " 

F.  A.  Gray,  " 

Campbell  Harris,  " 

J.  B.  Harris,  •' 

James  Gilmour,  ** 

Roswell  Stocking,  " 

Angus  McBean,  " 

Artemas  Blake,  " 

Reuben  Lafever,  Reading,  N.  Y. 
George  Edwards,  Bath,  N.  Y. 
J.  C.  Fuller,  Skeneateles,  N.  Y. 
R.  H.  Foster,  Lyons,  N.  Y. 

James  Dunn,  " 

John  M.  Holly, 
A.  L.  Beaumont,  *' 

A.  Hyde  Call,  Albion,  N.  Y. 
Asa  Rowe,  Sweden,  N.  Y. 
William  D.  Dickenson,  Victor,  N.  Y. 
John  B.  French,  *' 

W.  W.  Marsh,  " 

George  J.  Jessup,  Palmyra,  N.  Y. 
Stephen  Hyde,  *' 

Jonathan  Townsend,         " 
Samuel  E,  Hudson,  Newark,  N.  Y. 
Cyrus  S.  Bulton,  " 

Daniel  Kenyon,  " 

John  B.  Crosby,  Rush,  N.  Y. 
Joseph  Sibley,  West  Rush,  N.  Y. 
Daniel  H.  Burtiss,  Chili,  N.  Y. 
Elisha  Whittlesey,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Ledyard  Lincklaen,  Cazenovia,  N.  Y. 
Hon.  Leman  Gibbs,  Livonia,  N.  Y. 
Hon,  J.  Larrowe,  Hammondsport,  N.  Y. 
Ralph  Plumb,         Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Abner  Bryant,  " 

Albert  H.  Tracy,  " 

Samuel  Hecox,  " 

I.  A.  Blossom,  " 

Lewis  Eaton,  " 

John  Craig,  Middleport,  N.  Y. 
William  R.  Gwinn,  Medina,  N.  Y. 
Silas  M.  Burroughs,  *' 

John  &  George  Kirby,       " 
Orrin  Scoville,  " 

Hon.  R.  H  Smith,  Perry,  N.  Y. 
Josiah  Andrews,  " 

Mosely  Stoddard,  " 


Copies 
Hon.  James  McNair,  Dansville,  N.  Y. 
Moses  S.  Cole,  Parma,  N.  Y, 
John  Sargent,  Mendon,  N.  Y. 
Joseph  Cox,  Scottsville,  N.  Y. 

W.  W.  W'ilcox,  Irondequoit,  N.  Y. 

Alexander  A.  Hooker,  •* 

D.  H.  Buel,  Benton  Centre,  N.  Y. 

Asa  Foote,  Middlesex,  N.  Y. 

Ira  Merrill,  West  Avon,  N.  Y. 

Saxton  &  Miles,       New  York  City, 

Charles  A.  Stetson,  '* 

D.  K.  Minor,  " 

J.  Prescott  Hall,  «  5 

James  G.  King,  "  5 

James  Lenox,  "  6 

I.  F.  Sheaf,  "  5 

R.  B.  Minturn,  "  3 

Rev.  John  O.  Choules,  "  2 

S.  Verplanck,  "  2 

Jonathan  Goodhue,  "  2 

M.  H.  Grinnell,  "  2 

Robert  B.  Coleman,  «*  2 

Rev.  Joseph  Penney,  D.  D.  " 

George  Bird,  " 

H.  M.  Hayes,  « 

L.  N.  Fowler,  " 

William  H.  Aspinwall,  " 

Pelatiah  Perit,  " 

Curtis  Holmes,  " 

Joseph  G.  Cogswell,  " 

William  Partridge,  " 

David  Felt,  " 

William  H.  Cary,  " 

William  Emerson,  '     " 

Lewis  Tappan,  " 

Orsamus  Willard,  " 

Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows,  *' 

Greely  &  McElrath,  " 

Joshua  Brookes,  " 

Jacob  Harvey,  " 

C.  M.  Olcott,  " 

A.  A.  Low,  « 

T.  A.  Morison,  " 

John  Halsey,  Jr.  ** 

H.  T.  Chapman,  « 

Isaac  H.  Frothingham,  " 

Charles  G.  Carleton,  ** 

Lyman  Cobb,  " 

J.  Atkins,  Jr.  " 

Joshua  Atkins,  « 

George  C.  Thorburn,  " 

G.  M.  Haywood,  « 

Abraham  Bell,  " 

J.  Smyth  Rogers,  « 

George  D.  H.  Gillespie,  " 

•J.  C.  Delano,  " 

John  Joyger,  " 

Charles  Congdon,  " 

Rollin  Sanford,  « 

Jeremiah  Brown,  " 

W.  J.  Cornell, 

Isaac  R.  Cornell,  " 

Charles  Richmond,  Jr.  " 

N.  D.  Carlisle,  " 

F.  I.  Betts,  " 

William  T.  McCoun,  « 

Daniel  Stanton,  " 

Jonathan  Sturgis,  " 

Charles  M.  Leupp,  " 


XVlll 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


Copies. 

Shepherd  Knapp,    New  York  City,  1 

Gilbert  K.  Lassee,                 "  1 

Henry  Woods,                       "  1 

F.  W.  Guiteau,                      "  1 

E.  D.  Gillespie,                      "  1 

Wiley  &  Putnam,                  "  1 

J.  S.  Bartlett,                         "  1 

LutherBradish,Ex->-«g-      -Rochelle  NY  1 
Lt.  Gov.  of  N.  Y.  JJNew±Cocneiie,i>i.i.  i 

Wm.  H.  Mosely,  Castleton,  Staten  Island,  1 
Nehemiah  Denton,  Brooklyn,  L.  Island,  1 
.John  A.  King,  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  1 
E.  P.  Prentice,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Henry  O'Reilly,  " 

John  Townsend,  " 

A.  Mclntyre,  " 

J.  McDonald  Mclntyre,        " 
Erastus  Corning,  " 


Luther  Tucker 

Hon.  Wm.  C.  Bouck,  )         ,,  . 

Gov.  of  New  York,  5  ^ 

Henry  L.  Webb,                    "  2 

John  N.  Wilder,                    "  2 

Caleb  N.  Bement,                  "  1 

Robert  E.  Temple,                "  1 

'A.  French,  Jr.                        "  1 

James  M.  French,                 "  1 

James  Kidd,                            "  1 

Hon.  D.  D.  Barnard,             «  1 

James  Hall,                            "  1 

H.  Pumpelly,                         "  1 

Joel  Rathbane,                       "  1 

A.  E.  Brown,                           "  1 

James  Wilson,                        "  1 

Prof.  E.  Emmons,                  "  1 

Hon.  J.  Koons,                       "  1 

C.  P.  Williams,  "  1 
J.  P.  Beekman,  M.  p.,  Kinderhook,  N.  Y.  10 
Martin  Van  Buren,  Ex-  >  Lindenwald,       , 

President  of  U.  S.         ^     Kinderhook, 

Joel  B.  Nott,  Guilderland,  N.  Y.  2 
Edward  C.  Delavan,  Ballston  Centre,  N.  Y.  1 

George  Vail,  Troy,  N.  Y.  1 

Hon.  John  Savage,  Salem,  N.  Y.  1 

Ezra  Nye,  Clinton,  N.  J.  1 
Jas.  Neilson,  M.  D.,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  1 
Hon.  John  B.  Aycrigg,  Pyramus,  N.  J.      1 

J.  W.  Hayes,  Newark,  N.  J.  1 

John  S.  Chambers,      Trenton,  N.  J.  1 

Samuel  R.  Gummere,            "  1 

Phil.  Dickinson,                     "  1 

Richard  S.  Field,  Princeton,  N.  J.  1 

S.  A.  Hamilton,                      "  1 

Thomas  Hancock,  Burlington,  N.  J.  1 

Ira  B.  Underbill,                    "  1 

Bishop  G.  W.  Doane,            "  1 

Edward  B.  Grubb,                  "  L 

James  Thorn,  Bordentown,  N.  J.  1 
Josiah  Tatum,      Philadelphia,  Pa.            30 

Jacob  Snider,  Jr.                    "  5 

Peter  Hulme,                         "  3 

Richard  Peters,                       "  2 

James  Mease,  M.  D.              "  1 

John  Hare  Powell,                 "  1 

William  Morrison,                 "  1 

A.  Langdon  Elwyn,  M.  D.      "  1 

Henry  Zantzinger,                  "  1 

James  Go  wen,                        "  1 

Algernon  Sidney  Roberts,    "  1 

Thomas  Nelson,                    "  1 


Copies 


Aaron  Clement,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
E.  L.  Gary,  " 

Owen  Jones,  " 

Charles  Magargee,  " 
George  W.  Carpenter,  *' 
S.  Bradford,  " 

John  Farnum,  " 

George  Blight,  " 

Athenaeum,  " 

Pennsylvania  Horti-  )    „ 

cultural  Society,    ) 
Frederic  Brown,  " 

Charles  Chajincy,  " 

Dr.  George  Uhler,  ** 

William  G.  Malin,  « 
Charles  Roberts,  " 

Dr.  Charles  Noble,  " 
Dr.  J.  Rhea  Barton,  " 
Samuel  Bettle,  " 

Stephen  Colwell,  " 

Adam  Eckfeldt,  " 

Charles  Yarnall, 
William  E.  Garrett,       « 
P.  A.  &  S.  Small,    York,  Pa. 
John  Evans,  " 

Samuel  Willis, 
John  Brillinger,  " 

Samuel  Wagner,  " 

Henry  Woods,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
John  S.  Haines,  Germantown,  Pa. 
David  George,  Radnor,  Pa. 
Samuel  Lippencott,  Mauch  Chunck,  Pa. 
Daniel  B.  Smith,  Haverford,  Pa. 
Ebenezer  J.  Dickey,  Chester  Co.,  Pa. 
Pennock  Passmore,  Westtown,  Pa. 
Wilson  &  Heald,    Wilmington,  Del. 
Benjamin  Webb,  " 

James  W.  Thompson,  M.  D.  " 
Samuel  Canby,  " 

Edward  Tatnall,  « 

John  Andrews,  " 

James  Webb,  " 

John  Jones,  " 

Joseph  Carr,  " 

Caleb  Churchman,  " 

Bryan  Jackson,  " 

J.  S.  H.  Boies, 

James  T.  Bird,  " 

Henry  Dupont,  " 

Edward  C.  Hewes,  " 

Anthony  Bidderman,  " 

C.  J.  Dupont,  " 

Chauncy  P.  Holbomb,  New  Castle,  Del. 
John  B.  Le  Fever,  " 

John  W.  Andrews,  Stockford,  Del. 
Edward  T.  Bellah,  Brandywine,  Del. 
William  S.  Boulden,  Newport,  Del. 
Samuel  Sands,  Baltimore,  Md. 

William  C.  Shaw, 
J.  Swan, 

Gideon  B.  Smith,  M.  D.         " 
William  Child, 

Henry  Mankin,  " 

William  G.  Thomas, 
William  C  Wilson, 
Ramsay  McHenry,  " 

Dr.  R.  Dorsey,  " 

W.  Cary,  Fork-Meeting  Post  Office,  Md. 
George  Patterson,  Sykesville,  Md.  * 

Isaac  Webster,  Golden  Post  Office,  Md. 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


XIX 


Copies. 
B.  D.  Mullikin,  Good  Luck,  Md.  1 

Botts  &  Baldmn,  Richmond,  Va.  10 

Hon.  W.  C.  Rives,  Bentivoglio,  Va.  2 

Thos.  S.  Pleasants,  Bellona  Arsenal,  Va. 

Prof.  Fred.  Hall,  M.  D.,  Washington, D.  C. 
Hon.  Henry  L.  Ellsworth,         " 

D.  A.  Hall, 

Rev.  S.  G.  Bulfinch,  " 

K.  L.  Ellsworth,  " 

J.  S.  Skinner,  ** 

Hon.  E.  Whittlesey,  " 

J.  L.  Page, 

Darius  Lapham,  West  Liberty,  Ohio, 
Eli  Nichols,  Lloydsville,  Ohio, 
Charles  Anderson,  Dayton,  Ohio, 
Cyrus  Holt,  " 

Robert  W.  Steele,  « 

J.  W.  Smith,  Maumee,  Ohio, 
M.  L.  SuUivant,  Columbus,  Qhio, 
J.  SuUivant,  " 

Julius  Brace,  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
H.  Probosco,  " 

Charles  Duffield,  " 

Charles  Stetson,  " 

E.  Brigham,  '* 
Ely  &  Campbell,  " 
Cincinnati  Horticultural  Society, 
J.  M.  Trimble,  Hillsboro,'  Ohio, 
Abraham  Tappen,  Unionville,  Ohio, 
William  M.  Dawes,  Alexandria,  Ohio, 
Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun,  )  t>„„  ji„x„„  o  n 

Sec'y  of  State  of  U.  S.  \  Pendleton,  S.  C. 
Samuel  G.  Barker,  Charleston,  S.  C. 
Sanford  W.  Barker.  M.  D.  " 
Charles  Alston,  " 

Dr.  Benjamin  Huger,  " 

C.  Cotes,  " 

J.  H.  Hammond,  Silverton,  S.  C. 
R.  F.  W.  Allston,  Georgetown,  S.  C. 
M.  C.  M.  Hammond,  Hamburg,  S.  C. 
George   Cross,  Charlotte,  S.  C. 
R.  F.  Davidson,  " 

Dr.  William  R.  Holt,  Lexington,  N.  C. 
Hon.  T.  Spalding,  Darien,  Ga. 
James  H.  Couper,  " 


I" 


Copies 
Dr.  William  C.  Daniell,  Gainesville,  Ga 
Dr.   Horatio  Bowin,   Clinton,  Ga. 
Peter  L.  Clower,  " 

Z.  A.  Philips,  Mount  Meigs,  Ala. 
Charles  Barrell,  Montgomery,  Ala. 
Peter  A.  Remsen,  Mobile,  Ala. 
Benjamin  Whitfield,  Tuscaloosa,  Ala. 
Samuel  D.  J.  Moore, 
Rev.  Basil  Manly,  D.  D 
Pres.  of  Univ.  of  Ala. 
Hon.  H.  W.  Collier, 
Charles  M.  Foster,  " 

William  D.  Marrast,  " 

Hon.  J.  J.  Ormond,  " 

James  B.  Wallace,  " 

John  McCormick,  ** 

James  M.  Crook,  Alexandria,  Ala. 
F.  W.  Siperly,  Delavan,  W.  T. 
J.  S.  Rockwell,  Milwaukee,  W.  T. 
William  H.  Whiting,  Bloomfield,  W.  T. 
William  Woodbridge,  Detroit,  Mich. 

^  jtr&  J^^^"^"'  I  Constantine,  Mich. 

Gen.  Calvin  Jones,  Bolivar,  Tenn. 

Benjamin  Litton,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

M.  Benjamin,  Wilmington,  111. 

Dendy  Sharwood,  Ottawa,  111. 

J.  H.  Sherman,  Carthage,  111. 

Cyrus  Bryant,  Princeton,  111. 

Thomas  Affleck,  Ingleside,  Miss. 

Dr.  M.  W.  Philips,  Edwards  Dep6t,  Miss. 

James  Brown,  Livingston,  Miss. 

Moses  Liddell,  Woodville,  Miss. 

John  R.  Liddell,  Trinity  P.  0.,  La. 

Dr.  John  Calderwood,  Monroe,  La. 

Branch  Tanner,  Cheneyville,  La. 

James  L.  Peacock,  Bel- P n^'^^■^^  t„ 

grade  Plantation,       I  ^^^'^  C^^^^°^'  ^''■ 

George  Truit,  Kinniconnick,  Ky. 

F.  Coolwine,  Burlington,  Iowa, 

Robert  W.  Williams,  Tallahassee,  Fa. 

Richard  Mendenhall,  Richmond,  Ind. 

Beadle,  M.  D.,  St.  Catharine's,  U.  C. 

A^.^  -Po.^^^nr,  5  Woodhill,  Water- 
Adam  Ferguson,  ^     ^         ^  ^ 

W.  Young,  Halifax,  N.  S. 
Thomas  G.  Taylor,  Pictou,  N.  S. 


List  of  English  Subscribers  on  the  next  page. 

h* 


XX 


NAMES    OF    SUBSCRIBERS. 


GEEAT    BRITAIN. 


Lady  Noel  Byron, Esher,        

Sir  Charles  Morgan, Tredegar,  Wales,    .    .    . 

John  Courage,  Esq. Dulwich,    .         .    .    .    . 

Earl  of  Hardwicke, Wimpole, 

Sir  George  Cay  ley, London, 

Sir  John  Easthope,  M.  P « 

E.  W.  W.  Pendarves,  M.  P Pendarves,  Cornwall,   .     . 

Henry  Morton,  Esq »    .  Chester  Le  Street,  .    .    . 

Countess  of  Hardwicke, Wimpole, 

Lord  Portman, London, 

Lord  Ashburton, "  

Lord  Hatherton, Teddesley, 

Rev.  Dean  of  Westminster,  Dr.  Buckland,     .    London, 

Miss  Montgomery, " 

Thomas  Spencer,  Esq Bransby,  Lincolnshire, 

John  Giblett,  Esq Barnsbury  Villas,  London, 

R.  J.  Thompson,  Esq Yorkshire, 

Jonas  Webb,  Esq. Babraham, 

Joseph  Joy,  Esq. Boston, 

Messrs.  Drummond  &  Co Stirling,  Scotland,    .    .    . 

Messrs.  Lawson  &  Co Edinburgh,      "       ... 


Copies. 

.  6 

.  6 

.  6 

.  5 

.  2 

.  2 

.  2 

.  2 


PREFACE. 


I  HAVE  the  honor  of  laying  before  the  public  my  Fii-st  Report  on  European 
Agriculture  and  Rural  Economy.  It  is  to  a  considerable  degree,  miscellaneous, 
and  not  so  full  of  that  practical  information  and  detail  which  I  design  to  give 
hereafter.  I  trust,  hoAvever,  it  will  not  be  found  deficient  in  practical  value. 
Many  persons  may  think  that  I  should  particularly  point  out  what  is  to  be 
learnt  from  European  agriculture ;  but  I  understand  it  to  be  my  province  to 
give  an  honest  account  of  what  I  see,  premising  that  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen 
from  which  something  may  not  be  learnt,  and  that  it  is  for  others,  and  not  for  me, 
to  say  what  they  will  learn  from  that  which  is  placed  before  them.  Where  we 
find  ourselves  inferior  to  others,  it  may  be  desirable  to  ascertain  how  we  may 
reach  the  excellence  to  which  they  have  attained ;  and  where  the  advantage  is 
obviously  upon  our  side,  it  may  be  a  subject  of  honest  congratulation.  In  cir- 
cumstances, even  the  most  diflTerent,  a  sagacious  mind  will  gather  instruction 
from  contrast  as  well  as  from  analogy ;  and  the  success  of  any  man,  in  any  trade, 
pursuit,  manufacture,  or  art,  is  in  itself  a  powerful  stimulus  to  others  to  exertion ; 
and,  therefore,  an  instrument  of  excellence  in  any  and  in  every  other  art  or 
pursuit.  I  know  no  better  way  than  to  record  my  impressions  of  what  comes 
under  my  notice  in  the  field,  which  I  have  undertaken  to  explore,  as  faithfully  as 
I  can,  and  with  as  much  detail  as  seems  expedient ;  and  to  do  my  best,  that  every 
one  who  reads  my  pages  with  candor,  will  not  close  the  book  without  finding 
something  agreeable  and  instructive,  something  for  improvement  in  the  impor- 
tant art  to  which  my  labors  will  be  particularly  devoted,  and  something  to  make 
him  wiser,  better,  or  happier.  These  latter  are  the  proper  ends  of  knowledge 
and  of  life ;  and  this  honest  aim  will  in  itself  sanctify  and  elevate  the  humblest 
efibrts. 

The  objects  of  my  inquiry  are,  of  course,  various  and  extensive,  and  embrace 
every  thing  connected  with  the  cultivation  of  the  earth,  the  improvements  which 
are  now  going  on  in  agriculture,  and  every  branch  of  husbandry  and  rural  and 
domestic  economy. 

Among  these  topics  will,  of  course,  be  comprehended  — 

The  Soils,  and  especially  in  their  relation  to  different  crops. 

Manures  and  their  application. 

The  Implements  of  Husbandry,  and  various  Machines  for  facilitating  ana 
abridging  the  labors  of  the  Farm. 

The  different  great  operations  of  Agriculture,  such  as  Ploughing,  Sowing, 
Cultivating  and  Cleaning,  Harvesting  and  preparing  the  Crops  for  use  or 
market,  with  the  general  application  of  the  Produce  of  a  Farm. 


XXll 


PREFACE. 


Draining  and  Irrigation. 

Enclosing  and  Fencing. 

Redeeming  Moor  and  Heath  Land. 

Warping  and  Diking. 

The  Crops  grown — the  Grasses,  the  Cereal  Grains,  and  Esculent  Roots  for 

the  food  of  man  or  beast,  and  plants  cultivated  for  clothing,  building,  and 

fuel. 
Live  Stock  of  every  description  —  Cattle,  Horses,  Sheep,  Swine,  Poultry ; 

and  their  diflferent  breeds  and  classes. 
The  breeding,  rearing,  and  fattening  of  Live  Stock. 
The  Dairy. 
The  cultivation  of  Silk,  Flax,  Hemp,  Hops,  Madder,  Woad,  Mustard,  Chic- 

cory,  Olives,  Grapes,  Figs ;  the  production  of  Wool  and  Honey ;  of  Wine, 

Oil,  and  Sugar ;  and  various  other  crops  and  products  which  may  come 

under  my  notice,  and  the  production  and  growth  of  which  may  be  possible 

and  useful  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 
Markets  and  Fairs ;  Farming  Accounts. 
Agricultural  Labor ;  wages,  condition,  and  service. 
The  Management  of  particular  Farms  —  arable,  dau*y,  stock,  and  wool 

farms. 
Experimental  Farms. 
Veterinary  Establishments. 
Agricultural  Societies,  Museums,  and  Shows. 
Agricultural  Schools,  Education,  and  Literature. 
The  Condition  of  the  Rural  Population. 
Rural  Life  —  Morals,  Manners,  and  Customs. 


These  are  among  the  topics  which  will  claim  my  attention,  and  upon  which, 
in  the  course  of  my  tour,  I  hope  to  collect  and  to  communicate  much  useful  in- 
formation. The  field,  I  am  aware,  is  a  wide  one,  and  no  unaided  individual 
could,  under  any  circumstances,  give  a  full  and  entire  view  of  these  various 
subjects,  so  as  to  satisfy  every  inquiry ;  but  I  will  do  what  I  can  to  glean  that 
which  is  most  valuable,  and  to  direct  to  more  full  sources  of  information  the 
inquiries  of  those  to  whom  further  information  may  be  desirable. 

I  do  not  know  in  what  place,  rather  than  here,  I  can  better  acknowledge  the 
kindness  and  hospitality  which  I  have  received  from  gentlemen  with  whom  it 
has  been  my  happiness  to  become  acquainted ;  add  to  this  the  utmost  readiness 
and  courtesy  in  rendering  every  assistance  in  their  power  to  my  inquiries.  The 
kindness  is  sensibly  appreciated ;  and  these  acknowledgments  are  due  to  many 
noblemen  of  the  highest  rank  in  the  empire  ;  and  to  many  gentlemen  of  more 
humble  condition,  who,  if  they  have  not  the  nobility  of  rank,  have  even  a  higher 
patent  —  one  without  which  the  most  brilliant  insignia  of  external  distinction 
become  dim  —  the  nobility  of  intelligence,  wisdom,  and  most  active  and  exten- 
sive usefulness.  I  should  be  glad  here,  if  it  were  proper,  to  illuminate  my  page 
with  the  names  of  many  distinguished  individuals,  of  whose  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness the  recollection  will  not  fail,  while  any  record  remains  legible  on  the 
tablet  of  my  heart;  but  this  would  be  contrary  to  a  rule  which,  with  me,  has 
always  been  absolute  in  cases  of  this  nature,  lest  I  should  be  thought  even  to 
approach  a  violation  of  the  confidence  of  social  life.  One  may  wound  almost  as 
much  by  public  praise  as  by  censure  that  delicacy  of  sentiment  which,  satisfied 
with  doing  good,  shrinks  from  notoriety  and  ostentation.    Nor  would  I  in  any 


PREFACE.  XXIU 

way  impair  or  hinder  that  frankness  of  communication  and  manners  which  con- 
stitutes the  charm  of  social  intercourse.  This  would  be  sure  to  be  checked  if 
we  knew  that  a  reporter  for  the  public  were  constantly  present ;  and,  if  the  hum- 
ble expression  be  allowed,  it  would  hide  itself  in  its  burrow,  as  sure  as  it  per- 
ceived that  one  of  the  feline  or  the  canine  race  was  always  at  the  mouth  of  its 
hole  waiting  its  coming  out. 

My  agricultural  tour,  therefore,  must  not  be  expected  to  have  much  of  per- 
sonal and  private  narrative;  though  I  am  aware,  that,  from  this  very  circum- 
stance, it  may  lack  much  of  that  interest  which,  with  a  large  class  of  readers,  it 
might  otherwise  possess.  However  strong,  on  these  accounts,  the  temptation,  I 
shall  certainly  not  report  many  interesting  conversations  to  which  I  have  been  a 
party ;  nor  describe  the  eminent  or  the  more  humble  individuals  to  whom  I  have 
had  the  honor  of  an  introduction ;  nor,  after  the  example  of  some  tourists,  tell  of 
the  private  visits  which  I  have  made,  and  the  charming  families  whose  honored 
guest  I  have  been ;  nor  speak  of  the  "  accomplished  men,  and  the  delightful 
women,  and  the  beautiful  daughters,  and  the  promising  sons,"  in  the  houses 
where,  to  use  the  only  term  by  which  true  English  hospitality  may  be  expressed, 
I  have  been  domicUicdedj  and  to  do  only  justice  to  many  of  whom,  and  to  a  con- 
dition of  society  in  the  highest  degree  polished  and  improved,  would  not  be  for 
me  an  easy  task.  I  say  nothing  of  the  impropriety  of  stealing  for  the  public  the 
likeness  of  a  friend,  without  his  consent,  and  without  allowing  him  to  choose  his 
position,  his  dress,  or  his  painter;  for,  as  an  agriculturist,  this  is  not  the  species  of 
live  stock  which  I  came  to  examine,  and  in  which  those  for  whose  benefit  I  travel 
would  be  most  interested.  Yet,  while  I  shall  scrupulously  avoid  all  person- 
alities whatever  of  this  description,  I  shall  feel  at  perfect  liberty  to  give,  as  far 
as  I  am  able,  a  true  picture  of  rural  life  in  England,  and  of  the  condition  and 
habits  of  the  rural  population ;  and  if,  in  doing  this,  I  shall,  in  any  ca  e,  be 
thought  to  go  beyond  tlie  strict  line  of  what  may  be  called  the  practical  and  the 
useful  in  an  agricultural  tour,  with  the  candid  I  shall  find  an  apology  in  my  desire 
to  alleviate  the  dulncss  of  dry  details,  by  occasional  topics  more  light  and  xraagi- 
native.  It  is  not  unreasonable  for  me  to  wish  to  attract  to  my  pages,  I  k  pe  for 
their  benefit,  a  class  of  readers  who  would  be  certain  to  be  repelled  from  £\  mere 
skeleton,  however  accurately  and  beautifully  all  the  bones  were  put  together,  and 
all  the  joints  and  articulations  displayed  ;  but  who  would  be  delighted  to  con- 
template the  same  subject  covered  with  flesh,  instinct  with  life,  radiant  with 
health,  and  clothed  in  the  habiliments  of  elegance  and  fashion.  Every  one 
knows  the  variety  of  tastes  every  where  existing.  He  who  caters  for  the  public 
v/ill  be,  of  course,  anxious  tliat  each  guest  at  the  table  should  find  something 
which  he  likes.  Though,  perhaps,  a  large  portion  of  mankind  might  be  best 
satisfied  with  plain  boiled  and  roast,  and  content  to  eat  their  dinner  out  of 
pewter  plates,  and  from  a  plain  and  coarse  oaken  table  without  a  cloth,  such  as 
I  have  seen  at  Haddon  Hall,  nearly  two  centuries  old ;  there  are  not  a  few  who 
would  prefer  the  refinements  of  modern  life,  a  porcelain  dish  to  a  wooden  tren- 
cher, a  silver  fork  to  the  natural  use  of  the  ten  digits,  the  French  entries  to  the 
more  substantial  covers ;  and  who,  little  as  it  may  contribute  to  the  actual  sup- 
port of  life,  find  as  high  a  pleasure  in  the  fittings-out  of  the  banquet,  its  arrange- 
ments, neatness,  order,  beauty,  and  in  the  splendid  pyramid  of  flowers  which 
often  crowns  its  centre,  as  in  any  mere  gratification  of  the  appetite.  Under  any 
circumstances  it  would  be  idle  in  me  to  presume  to  spread  an  elegant  and 
splendid  table  for  my  guests  ;  but  while  I  shall  be  anxious  to  furnish  that  which 
is  substantial  and  nutritious,  I  shall  be  equally  desirous  that  at  least  the  dessert 


XXIV  PREFACE. 

shall  be  made  up  of  the  best  fruits  which  I  can  gather.  Though  I  am  not  able 
to  present  them  in  vases  of  gold  and  silver,  or  of  diamond  glass,  or  Sevres  or 
porcelain  china ;  yet  if  the  peaches  and  the  strawberries  should  be  seen  blushing 
under  a  few  of  the  leaves  of  their  own  foliage,  or  if  a  simple  bouquet  of  the 
flowers  of  tlie  sweetbrier  and  violet,  or  a  handful  of  the  half-unfolded  buds  of  the 
moss-rose,  the  queen  of  flowers,  should  be  sought  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  the 
table,  I  hope  that  my  taste  will  not  be  condemned,  but  will  be  regarded  only  as 
in  conformity  to  the  rule  sanctioned  by  a  high  antiquity,  that  of  mingling  "  the 
agreeable  with  the  useful." 

There  are  other  grounds  upon  which  I  claim  the  indulgence  of  my  readers. 
We  have  often  heard  of  the  vexation  of  an  artist,  who  is  compelled  to  paint 
a  picture  to  order ;  and,  willing  or  unwilling,  well  or  ill,  under  the  most  brilliant 
spell  of  poetical  excitement,  or  in  an  hour  of  the  most  sleepy  or  prosy  dulness, 
he  must  work  at  it,  and  have  it  completed,  and  varnished,  and  framed,  and  sent 
home  to  be  criticized,  by  a  certain  time.  To  a  degree,  similar  objections  lie  to 
all  forced  intellectual  labor ;  and  in  many  such  cases,  a  powerfully  excited 
desire  to  do  well,  and  not  to  disappoint  the  wishes  and  expectations  of  kind 
friends,  presents,  in  itself,  no  small  hinderance  to  success,  and,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  is  sometimes  the  cause  of  failure.  It  must  be  obvious  to  any  one  what 
disadvantages  I  labor  under  in  being  obliged  to  give  my  reports  before  I  have 
completed  my  tour.  In  this  case,  I  yield  of  necessity  to  an  impatience  of  curi- 
osity on  the  part  of  my  friends,  which  I  would  neither  condemn  nor  blame,  but 
which  certainly  presents  a  strong  claim  upon  their  candor. 

1  am  painfully  aware  of  the  greatness  of  the  undertaking,  and  the  sacrifices 
which,  at  my  time  of  life,  it  demands  of  me,  and  the  difficulties  in  the  case  of 
meeting  even  my  own  wishes.  But  the  object  being  exclusively  a  public  object, 
and  one  in  respect  to  the  utility  of  which,  however  imperfectly  accomplished, 
there  can  be  no  dissent,  I  look  confidently  for  the  aid  and  encouragement,  so 
essential  to  my  success,  of  the  intelligent,  disinterested,  and  public-spirited, 
among  the  friends  of  agricultural  improvement.  Such  aid  in  any  form  will  be 
gratefully  appreciated. 

In  whatever  light  I  regard  the  subject  of  the  improvement  of  agriculture,  my 
sense  of  its  importance  is  contimially  strengthened.  In  its  social,  political,  and 
moral  bearings  —  in  its  connection  with  the  subsistence  of  mankind,  with  their 
general  comfort,  and  with  the  progress  of  civilization  —  no  subject,  purely  sec- 
ular, more  demands  the  attention  of  the  political  economist,  the  statesman,  and 
the  philanthropist.  If  the  familiar  experience  of  half  a  century  in  all  the  labors 
and  details  of  practical  husbandry,  a  considerable  acquaintaince  with  the  agri- 
culture of  the  United  States,  and  an  enthusiastic  attachment  to  rural  life  and 
rural  pursuits,  give  me  any  power  to  be  useful  in  the  advancement  of  this  great 
cause,  that  power  shall  be  exerted.  I  do  not  know  to  what  object  the  short 
remainder  of  my  life  can  be  more  rationally  devoted. 

HENRY   COLMAN. 

2  Spring  Gardens,  Charino  Cross, 

Londorij  1844. 


PREFACE 

TO   THE    SECOND    EDITION, 


In  presenting  a  second  edition  of  European  Agriculture  to  the  public,  I  take 
the  opportunity  to  acknowledge  gratefully  the  patronage  of  ray  subscribers,  and 
the  favorable  appreciation  of  my  labors  by  a  liberal  and  enlightened  community. 

I  hope  that  tlie  work  will  do  some  good  by  the  information  which  it  commu- 
nicates ;  and  I  am  happy  in  the  assurance  that  it  has  already  done,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  do,  much  good  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  public  to  this  great  and 
important  subject,  this  most  essential  interest  of  the  community.  Every,  even 
the  most  humble,  effort  to  enlighten  the  public  mind  on  this  subject,  to  interest, 
if  I  may  so  say,  their  affections  in  it,  and  to  elevate  and  ennoble  it  in  the  public 
estimation,  is  so  far  a  contribution  to  the  oest  interests  of  society. 

At  the  present  time  the  world  seems  mad  with  the  thirst  for  gold.  The  unex- 
pected discovery  of  a  large  deposit  of  this  precious  metal  in  California  seems  at 
once  to  have  carried  this  passion  up  to  the  boiling  point,  and  brilliant  dreams  of 
wealth  acquired  without  toil,  and  gold  to  be  gathered  in  handfuls  at  pleasure, 
seem  to  have  startled  many  sober  minds,  and  to  have  moved  them  from  their 
propriety,  and  to  be  drawing  them  away  from  the  cahn  pursuits  of  honest  indus- 
try and  the  certain  gains  of  habitual  diligence  and  wholesome  economy,  into  a 
race  to  be  suddenly  rich,  in  which  tlie  competition  will  be  crowded,  the  dangers 
to  health  and  life  many  and  great,  and,  under  the  best  circumstances,  the  results 
to  possession,  enjoyment,  and  morals  altogether  uncertain.  I  firmly  believe  that, 
with  no  more  expense  than  it  now  demands  to  reach  this  golden  paradise,  with 
no  more  toil  in  tilling  the  earth,  with  entire  security  and  peace  of  mind,  and 
with  no  danger  to  health  or  morals,  many  a  young  man  might  establish  himself 
far  nearer  home  in  our  beneficent  country,  on  a  small  farm ;  and,  in  the  wholesome 


XXVI  PREFACE    TO    THE    SECOND    EDITION. 

pursuits  of  rural  industry,  would,  in  the  end,  become  a  far  richer  and  happier 
man  than  nine  out  of  ten  of  those  who,  under  a  burning  sun,  in  a  climate  full 
of  danger  to  life,  among  a  population  of  tlie  most  heterogeneous  character,  and 
all  burning  with  unmixed  avarice,  and  entirely  out  of  the  protection  of  law,  with 
the  hardest  toil,  and  amidst  the  most  severe  privations,  seek  for  riches  and  happi- 
ness in  the  sands  of  San  Francisco. 

My  work  will  be  found  in  this  edition  considerably  enlarged,  and  all  pains 
have  been  taken  to  insure  accuracy.  There  is  some  miscellaneous  matter,  but 
not  wholly  irrelevant  to  the  subject ;  and  as  it  has  been  my  constant  aim  to  make 
it  so,  the  work  will,  I  trust,  be  found  of  an  eminently  practical  character;  and  as 
full  and  as  exact  details  are  given  in  regard  to  every  agricultural  operation  or 
subject  as  t]je  nature  of  the  case  seemed  to  demand. 

In  regard  to  the  plates  of  animals  some  distrust  has  been  expressed  as  to  their 
accuracy.  This,  in  a  measure,  grows  out  of  an  incredulity  as  to  the  extraordi- 
nary improvements  which  the  British  farmers  have  made  in  this  matter.  I  have 
only  to  say  that  the  drawings  have  been  made  from  life  by  some  of  the  best 
artists  which  the  country  affords ;  that  every  pains  has  been  taken  to  render 
them  correct  likenesses ;  that  I  have  seen  several  of  the  animals  of  which  cuts  are 
given,  and,  as  far  as  my  judgment  goes,  know  them  to  be  exact ;  and  in  respect 
to  those  cases  in  which  I  have  not  seen  the  originals,  having  seen  many  animals 
of  the  same  breeds  and  families,  have  not  a  doubt  of  their  accuracy. 

Boston,  Mass.  Feh.  1849. 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


FIRST   REPORT 


I.— GENERAL  FACTS  AND  CONSIDERATIONS. 

Most  of  my  friends  are  aware  of  the  circumstances  which  have 
induced  me  to  undertake  an  agricultural  tour  in  Europe.  The 
enterprise  was  suggested  among  some  friends,  at  the  show  of  the 
New  York  State  Agricultural  Society,  in  Albany,  in  September, 
1842 ;  and,  upon  proposals  being  issued  for  its  accomplishment, 
the  project  met  with  so  much  favor  as  to  warrant  my  sailing  for 
England,  in  April,  1843. 

Ploughing  the  sea  is  somewhat  different  from  ploughing  the 
land  ;  but  under  an  experienced  pilot,  and  with  favorable  winds, 
we  made  a  broad,  a  deep,  and  a  comparatively  straight  furrow, 
throwing  off  continually  floods  of  jewels  from  the  mould-board  ; 
and  in  the  short  space  of  seventeen  days,  completed  the  brilliant 
line,  and  unyoked  the  team  in  the  harbor  of  Liverpool.  Here, 
for  the  first  time,  I  set  foot  in  England,  the  green  isle  in  the 
ocean,  the  sight  of  which  had  been  so  long  the  object  of  my 
desire  ;  the  brilliant  centre  of  so  many  youthful  imaginations, 
the  home  of  my  fathers,  and  the  advance-guard  —  if  so  it  may 
be  proper  to  speak — among  the  nations  of  the  civilized  world  in 
the  march  of  human  improvement,  in  learning  and  civilization, 
in  science  and  the  useful  arts,  and  in  all  the  elements  of  social 
greatness  and  prosperity. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  my  emotions  on  that  occa- 
sion. If  small  things  may  be  compared  to  great,  then,  if  it  were 
1 


&  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

not  — as  with  the  bold  and  adventurous  Genoese  —  the  discovery 
of  a  new  and  unknown  country,  yet  it  was  to  me  an  unexplored 
country;  and  it  was,  in  truth,  almost  the  first  time  I  had  realized 
the  greatness  of  the  enterprise  upon  which  I  had  embarked. 

Some  persons  may  smile  at  the  application  of  such  language 
to  a  mere  agricultural  tour.  Things  are  great  or  small  by  com- 
parison ;  and  that  work  may  be  considered  great  to  any  one, 
't*-*"t  which,; in:  its  proper- performance,  demands  the  exertion  of  all  the 
talents  whicH  he.  may  possess.  I  cannot  but  look  upon  an  agri- 
tV^i  V<Jyliu^«'i?  tp^ir/in  Europe,  in  the  present  condition  of  the  art  and 
science,  — for  in  both  lights  it  has  now  come  to  be  viewed,  —  as 
most  important ;  combining  a  variety  of  inquiries  and  observa- 
tions which  would  severely  tax  the  highest  powers  that  might 
be  applied  to  this  object.  It  is  for  me  to  assume  only  the  hum- 
ble office  of  a  pioneer  in  this  great  work ;  and  if  I  can  be  so 
happy  as  to  render  some  essential  service  to  my  country,  in  facil- 
itating the  labors  of  those  who  shall  come  after  me,  in  effecting 
a  small  clearing  that  others  may  more  easily  bring  the  field  into 
a  state  of  complete  and  productive  cultivation,  I  shall  be  consoled 
under  all  the  imperfections  of  my  attempt  with  the  conviction 
that  I  have  not  labored  in  vain. 

I  cannot  help  feeling  that  there  is  a  higti  responsibleness 
attached  to  my  undertaking  — ^  a  responsibleness  not  merely  to 
the  kindness  of  friends,  on  both  sides  of  the  water,  who  with  an 
extraordinary  liberality  and  good  will  have  favored  the  enter- 
prise, but  to  the  great  cause  itself  of  agricultural  improvement  ; 
that  the  information  collected  and  given  might  be  drawn  from 
authentic  sources,  selected  and  combined  with  judgment,  and 
presented  in  a  condensed,  compact,  and  practical  form. 

A  person  who  has  had  no  experience  in  such  a  matter,  who  is 
not  accustomed  to  such  investigations,  can  form  no  just  idea  of  the 
diiSculties  of  accomplishing  in  this  case  what  one  would  desire 
to  do ;  and  of  the  impediments,  and,  I  regret  to  add,  in  many 
cases  the  vexations  and  disappointments,  which,  in  its  prosecu- 
tion, he  will  be  compelled  to  meet  with.  Before  I  left  home,  a 
friend — in  many  respects  highly  intelligent,  and  eminent  for  his 
sound  judgment,  and,  withal,  a  liberal  and  devoted  friend  of  an 
improved  agriculture — said  to  me,  ''that  there  was  nothing  to 
be  learned  in  England ;  that  he  himself  had  travelled  much  in 
England,  by  post,  and  had  occasionally  alighted  and  talked  with 


GENERAL  FACTS  AND  CONSIDERATIONS.  3 

laborers,  whom  he  saw  in  the  fields  by  the  road-side,  but  he  had 
learned  nothing  from  them."  And  another  friend,  whose  emi- 
nent position  in  the  community  should  have  saved  him  from  an 
immature  judgment,  expressed  an  opinion  that  "  the  climate  of 
England  was  so  different  from  the  United  States,  and  the  cost 
of  labor  in  England  was  so  much  less  than  in  America,  that  the 
agricultural  practice  and  experience  of  Great  Britain  could  have 
no  application  to  the  United  States."  Now,  entertaining  as  I  do 
the  high  respect  for  these  two  gentlemen  to  which  their  intelli- 
gence and  position  in  society  entitle  them,  I  have  come,  not 
without  some  reluctance,  to  an  entirely  opposite  conclusion  —  a 
conclusion  which  my  own  observation,  in  the  course  of  my 
progress,  has  daily  more  and  more  confirmed. 

There  is  a  great  deal  to  be  learned  in  England,  which  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  be  known  in  the  United  States.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  agricultural  practice  in  England,  which  may  with 
adv^antage  be  transplanted  to  America  ;  and  although,  as  is  most 
obvious,  every  agricultural  operation  must  be  modified  by  the 
climate  of  a  country  and  various  local  circumstances,  yet,  in 
respect  to  many  facts  of  a  practical  nature,  the  knowledge  that 
under  any  circumstances  a  thing  is  practicable  is  often  of  great 
importance,  as  it  excites  to  inquiries  and  experiments  which  may 
evolve  many  other  valuable  facts  ;  and  inquiries  and  experiments 
will  often  suggest  modes  of  operation  by  which  even  the  difli- 
culties  of  climate  and  situation  may  be  counteracted  or  over- 
come. Plants  and  animals  are  often  naturalized  to  localities 
very  different  and  distant  from  their  native  homes.  If  the  com- 
mon history  of  the  plant  be  true,  one  of  the  most  valuable  and 
nutritious  of  esculent  vegetables,  the  potato,  is  an  example  of  a 
removal  from  a  warm  to  a  temperate,  and  even  a  cold  climate : 
and  of  a  conversion  from  a  root  very  inferior  in  size  and  quality, 
to  a  vegetable  most  productive  in  its  yield,  universally  relished, 
in  the  highest  degree  farinaceous  and  nutritious,  and,  under  the 
best  cultivation,  perhaps  yielding  per  acre  as  much  food  for  man 
or  beast  as  any  other  plant  which  could  occupy  the  ground. 
Then,  again,  to  suppose  that  a  knowledge  of  the  agriculture  of 
a  country  is  to  be  acquired  by  a  transit  through  it  on  the  box- 
seat  of  a  coach,  or  in  a  railroad  carriage,  or  by  a  casual  conver- 
sation with  laborers  by  the  road-side,  who,  especially  in  England, 
where  labor  is  so  much  subdivided  that  the  knowledge  of  a  man 


4  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

in  that  condition  of  life  seldom  extends  beyond  the  particular 
service  to  which  he  has  been  trained,  is  a  judgment  of  which, 
upon  further  consideration,  an  enlarged  mind  would  not  be  tena- 
cious. In  respect  to  any  other  matter  of  importance,  it  would 
not  be  the  most  likely  way  of  obtaining  full  and  authentic  infor- 
mation. Why  should  it  be  deemed  so  in  respect  to  agriculture  ? 
This  art,  in  its  improved  condition,  combines  so  many  arts  and 
such  various  subjects  of  inquiry  and  observation,  that  a  close 
scrutiny  and  long-continued  inquiry  are  as  indispensable  to  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  it  as  they  are  in  respect  to  any  of  the 
branches  of  commerce  or  manufactures. 

After  travelling  many  hundreds  of  miles  over  this  rich  and 
highly-cultivated  country,  and  seeing  many  of  the  landlords,  and 
tenants,  and  laborers,  in  their  own  domiciles  and  homesteads,  in 
their  stables  and  fields,  and  enjoying  the  most  free  communica- 
tions, I  feel  that  I  have,  as  it  were,  only  begun  to  see  what  is  to 
be  seen,  and  to  learn  what  is  to  be  known,  and  that  every  step 
of  my  progress  is  developing  new  and  valuable  objects  of  inquiry 
and  remark. 


II.  — PARTICULAR   OBJECTS   OF   INaUIRY. 

What  should  an  agricultural  tour  embrace  ?  To  this  the 
proper  answer  is.  Every  thing  connected  with  the  cultivation 
of  the  earth,  the  production  of  food  for  man  and  beast,  and  the 
condition  of  those  to  whom  agriculture  is  a  business  and  profes- 
sion. In  my  preface  I  have  enumerated  generally  the  objects  of 
inquiry.  The  various  operations  of  husbandry,  the  implements 
by  which  these  operations  are  carried  on  and  facilitated,  the 
plants  cultivated,  and  the  live  stock  produced  and  maintained, 
constitute  the  principal  subjects  to  be  observed  and  treated ;  but 
the  subdivisions  into  which  these  great  topics  spread  themselves 
are  very  numerous,  and  it  is  as  important  to  consider  them  in  detail 
as  in  the  gross.  It  may  be  expected  by  some  persons  that  I 
should  merely  point  out  in  what  respects  foreign  differs  from 
American  agriculture ;  or,  otherwise,  that  I  should  only  suggest 
for  adoption  in  the  United  States  such  methods  of  culture  as,  in 


PARTICULAR    OBJECTS    OF    INq,UIRY.  5 

my  opinion,  would  constitute  an  improvement  upon  American 
agriculture.  This  would  be  assuming  too  great  a  responsibility, 
and  would  display  a  confidence  in  my  own  judgment  with  which 
I  would  not  willingly  be  chargeable.  I  design  to  give,  as  well 
as  I  am  able,  a  full  account  of  subjects  which  come  under  my 
immediate  observation.  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  my 
opinion  whenever  I  deem  it  proper  so  to  do,  because  intelligent 
minds  for  whom  I  write  will  be  no  further  influenced  by  it  than 
as  it  appears  reasonable  ;  but  I  shall,  in  all  cases,  endeavor  so 
fully  to  state  any  matter  in  discussion,  that  they  will  have  the 
materials  before  them  for  making  up  their  own  judgment,  and 
with  that  I  shall  not  any  further  willingly  interfere.  Even  agri- 
culture, like  every  other  subject  not  susceptible  of  mathematical 
demonstration,  is  not  without  its  disputed  and  disputable  points, 
into  which,  of  course,  something  of  the  heat  of  passion  may  at 
times  infuse  itself.  Political  agriculture  is  full  of  such  topics, 
and  will  be  cautiously  avoided  by  me  so  far  as  in  any  way  it 
presents  itself  as  matter  of  party  contention.  The  diflerent 
breeds  of  live  stock,  neat  cattle,  and  sheep,  have  each  their  parti- 
sans ;  often  influenced  solely  by  their  own  honest  preferences 
and  convictions,  founded  —  as  they  at  least  persuade  themselves 
—  upon  experience  and  observation ;  and  in  some  cases,  it  will 
not  be  denied,  by  private  interests  —  a  stimulus  which  is  too  sel- 
dom absent  from  most  of  the  disputes  and  contentions  in  life. 
Now,  if  a  man  should  pronounce  a  preference  over  all  others 
for  the  short-horns,  he  must  expect  to  be  tossed  by  the  long- 
horns  ;  if  he  sides  with  the  Herefords,  the  Durhams  will  shake 
their  heads  at  him  ;  and  if  he  advocates,  above  all  others,  the 
claims  of  the  polled  Scotch,  the  Angus,  or  the  Fife  cattle, 
the  West  Highlanders  will  be  down  upon  him  with  a  ven- 
geance. So  it  is  with  the  South  Downs  and  the  Leicesters.  — 
meek,  quiet,  placable  animals  themselves,  —  who  may  be  seen 
feeding  peaceably  together  out  of  the  same  manger,  and  lying 
down  without  passion  in  the  same  pen ;  but  not  so  their  owners 
and  breeders.  A  spirit  of  rivalry  pervades  every  department  of 
life.  Under  due  restraints  and  discipline,  it  is  productive  of  the 
most  useful  results  ,*  but  it  too  often  blinds  the  judgment,  and 
becomes  fierce  and  vindictive.  We  are  not  satisfied  with  the 
undoubted  good  qualities  of  what  belongs  to  ourselves  ;  but  we 
resolve  upon  exposing  the  defects  and  faults,  whether  real  or 
1* 


6  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

imaginary,  of  what  belongs  to  our  neighbors.  It  is  not  enough 
that  our  own  children  are  handsome,  good-tempered,  clever,  and 
accomplished ;  but  we  insist  upon  it  that  those  of  our  neighbors 
are  ugly,  morose,  and  ill-endowed.  Perhaps  agriculture  presents 
a  more  limited  field  for  any  ill-natured  emulation  than  almost 
any  other  department  of  life.  Here  men  cannot  conceal  their 
discoveries  and  improvements.  Here  there  cannot  be  long  any 
monopoly  of  advantages.  Here  men  perceive  how  rapidly  and 
widely  improvements  and  discoveries  extend  themselves.  In  the 
present  condition  of  the  world,  for  a  man  to  pretend  to  keep  any 
distinguished  agricultural  improvement  to  himself  would  be 
very  much  like  his  holding  up  his  umbrella  before  the  sun,  so 
that  it  might  not  shine  upon  other  people.  All  he  can  be  sure  of, 
in  this  case,  is  to  keep  himself  in  the  dark.  A  liberal  and  intelli- 
gent mind  perceives  at  once,  that  the  light  which  his  knowledge 
or  improvements  shed  upon  others,  is  always  reflected  back  upon 
himself. 


HI. —  SCIENCE   AND   AGRICULTURE. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  although  a  good  deal  of 
selfishness  and  bigotry  might  remain, — for,  alas!  how  can  it  be 
otherwise  as  long  as  human  nature  is  human  ?  —  there  is  a  spirit 
of  liberal  inquiry  abroad  in  respect  to  agriculture,  blazing  in  the 
valleys,  and  beaming  from  the  hill  tops,  and  every  where  diffus- 
ing an  invigorating,  a  stirring,  and  a  healthful  radiance.  One  of 
the  wisest  of  our  race,  who  applied  his  heart,  as  he  says,  to  un- 
derstand wisdom,  has  told  us  that  there  is  nothing  new  under 
the  sun;  what  is,  has  been;  and  the  human  mind  is  not  likely 
to  spring  suddenly  a  mine  of  truth,  which  has  never  before  been 
touched ;  nor  may  it  expect  at  once  to  accomplish  the  solution 
of  recondite  problems,  which  have  bafiled  the  most  penetrating 
and  puzzled  the  most  sagacious  minds.  It  would  be  the  gross- 
est injustice  to  many  men  of  the  brightest  powers,  of  profound 
investigation,  and  of  most  liberal  and  disinterested  views,  —  who, 
though  they  have  gone  out,  have  left  a  brilliant  track  behind 
them,  —  to  say  that  agricultural  science  has  never  before  been 


SCIENCE    AND    AGRICULTURE.  7 

prosecuted  with  zeal,  intelligence,  and  in  the  spirit  of  true 
philosophy. 

I  am  not  a  believer  in  the  immediate  approach  of  an  intellec- 
tual millennium ;  nor  can  I  persuade  myself  that  philosophy  has 
just  been  born  into  the  world,  and  that  all  preceding  ages  were 
ages  of  comparative  barbarism.  It  is  true  that  the  natural 
sciences  are  now  prosecuted  with  singular  advantages  and  suc- 
cess ;  that,  in  a  particular  manner,  chemistry  has,  in  a  measure, 
been  created  within  the  last  half  century ;  and  that  it  promises 
to  render  the  most  essential  aid  to  agriculture.  Excepting,  how- 
ever, the  stimulus  which  it  has  every  where  given  to  inquiry 
and  observation,  and  the  exact  experiments  which  it  is  prompt- 
ing farmers  —  even  in  the  humblest  departments  of  agriculture  — 
to  make,  it  cannot  as  yet  point  to  very  many  positive  practical 
triumphs.  Sanguine  as  I  am,  in  common  with  others,  in  its  ap- 
plication to  agriculture,  ultimately  and  perhaps  speedily  yielding 
the  most  beneficial  fruits,  it  has  not  yet  even  approached  a  solu- 
tion of  many  of  the  profound  secrets  of  nature.  Whether  this 
triumph  is  ever  to  be  achieved  by  human  sagacity  ;  whether, 
with  our  present  faculties,  we  are  capable  of  entering  into  these 
sacred  mysteries,  and  of  lifting  up  even  a  corner  of  the  veil 
which  Heaven  has  drawn  over  them,  it  would  be  idle  to  conjec- 
ture ;  but  they  are,  as  yet,  a  sealed  book  to  us.  In  the  spirit  of 
the  Book  of  books,  ''  Let  us  wait  at  Wisdom's  gates,  let  us  watch 
at  the  posts  of  her  doors ;  "  let  us  knock,  humbly  hoping  that 
they  may  be  opened  to  us.  Those  who  have  gone  before  us 
have  done  the  same,  and  were  favored  with  many  largesses, 
which  they  have  bequeathed  to  their  children.  Let  us  do  them 
justice  by  gratefully  acknowledging  our  debt  to  them ;  and  not 
wrap  ourselves  up,  as  we  are  very  liable  to  do,  in  the  vain  con- 
ceit that  they  knew  nothing,  and  that  we  know  every  thing. 

We  talk  about  uniting  science  with  agriculture,  as  if  this  were 
the  first  time  of  asking  the  banns,  when  we  may  be  sure  the 
marriage  was  consummated  years  and  years  ago.  A  science, 
technically  speaking,  is  a  particular  branch  of  human  knowledge, 
which  has  been  systematized  and  drawn  up  in  regular  form  ;  its 
particular  principles  and  rules  defined,  its  department  circum- 
scribed, and  its  peculiar  vocabulary  arbitrarily  established.  In 
this  respect,  chemistry,  botany,  and  mechanics  are  sciences  ;  but 
science,  in  an  enlarged  sense,  is  the  observation  of  nature — the 
accumulation  and  comparison  of  facts,  and  the   deduction  of 


8  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

inferences  from  them,  either  for  the  acquisition  of  more  knowl- 
edge, or  for  practical  application  and  use.  I  venture  to  assert 
that,  without  any  knowledge  of  the  particular  and  technical 
terms  of  art,  whose  utility  I  am  not  disposed  in  the  smallest 
degree  to  deny,  wherever  the  mind  is  at  work  there  is  science  ; 
and  many  men,  who  hardly  know  the  letters  of  a  book,  are  yet 
profound  observers  of  nature,  and  may  be  denominated  scientific 
agriculturists ;  because  they  are  full  of  knowledge,  which  they 
are  constantly  applying  to  practice.  Now,  without  any  dispar- 
agement of  former  times,  I  think  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
universal  mind  of  the  agricultural  world  was  never  so  powerfully 
stirred  as  it  is  at  this  present  time.  We  must  do  what  we  can 
to  keep  it  awake,  and  to  direct  the  application  of  its  powers. 
*' Practice  with  science,"  is  the  terse  and  comprehensive  motto 
of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England.  Philosophy  now 
comes  down  from  her  high  places,  and  takes  Labor  by  the  hand, 
that  they  may  walk  together  among  the  works  of  God,  and,  with 
an  enlightened  and  commendable  curiosity,  ''  search  into  the 
causes  of  things."  This  is  the  highest  office  of  the  human 
understanding. 

Nature  proceeds  by  fixed  laws.  She  is  not  a  confused  jumble 
of  things ;  to-day  one  thing,  and  to-morrow  another.  All  the 
relations  of  the  different  parts  of  nature  are  mutual  and  exact, 
and  every  thing  moves  on  in  a  beautiful  agreement  with  every 
other  thing.  The  ancients  were  accustomed  to  speak  of  the 
music  of  the  spheres ;  this  refers  to  the  harmony  which  prevails 
throughout  the  universe,  so  that  no  discordant  note  is  ever 
sounded.  There  is  a  reason  for  every  thing  ;  there  is  a  rule  by 
which  every  thing  is  directed  and  controlled.  It  is  not  enough 
for  us  to  say,  "  This  is  a  mystery  ;  it  is  in  vain  for  us  to  inquire  ;  " 
or,  "  Here  is  an  arbitrary  and  miraculous  power  in  nature  which 
we  can  never  understand."  There  may  be  many  things  beyond 
our  comprehension ;  there  is  nothing  which  should  be  beyond 
our  inquiry.  There  is  a  wonderful  power  at  work  always  in 
vegetation.  The  development  and  progress  of  vegetable  life, 
the  relations  of  the  soil  to  the  plant  produced,  the  effects  of  light 
and  air,  and  dew  and  rain,  and  frost  and  electricity,  the  nature 
of  manures,  their  uses  and  their  results,  may  all  be  considered  as 
mysteries  as  yet,  to  a  great  degree,  unresolved ;  but  from  what 
we  see  in  other  parts  of  Nature,  which  have  come  under  our 
observation,  and  where  some  portion  of  her  laws  has  been  fully 


SCIENCE    AND    AGRICULTURE. 


revealed,  an  intelligent  mind  can  have  no  doubt  that  all  these 
things  rest  upon  certain  determinate  principles,  and  are  governed 
by  laws  as  fixed  as  any  which  prevail  in  other  parts  of  the  system 
of  nature.  Whoever  examines  the  minutest  crystal,  will  find 
that  in  the  same  classes  the  laws  of  aggregation  are  the  same  ; 
whoever  examines  any  species  of  plants,  perceives  an  exact  sim- 
ilarity of  formation  and  habit  pervading  whole  classes  and  tribes. 
The  established  principles  of  gravitation  and  attraction,  and 
above  all  that  most  wonderful  discovery  of  chemical  equivalents, 
all  demonstrate  the  existence,  throughout  nature,  of  fixed  laws 
and  determinate  forces,  whose  operation  is  universal  and  invaria- 
ble. There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  laws  of  vegetable 
and  animal  life,  and  growth  and  nourishment  and  decay,  are 
equally  well  established,  and  equally  universal,  and  equally  inva- 
riable. The  ascertaining  and  discovery  of  any  one  of  these  laws 
is  positive  knowledge — is,  properly  speaking,  science;  and  any 
mind,  acute  and  observing,  may,  in  the  daily  routine  of  humble 
life,  become  familiar  with  many  of  these  great  laws  ;  and  read, 
at  first-hand,  on  the  illuminated  pages  of  external  nature,  the 
most  useful  and  the  most  sublime  truths,  though  it  has  never 
been  taught  to  read  by  the  alphabet  of  science,  nor  been  allowed 
admission  into  the  schools  of  philosophy. 

It  is  said  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  human  intellects,  a  mmd 
whose  sublime  discoveries  constitute  a  divine  revelation,  second 
only  to  the  written  word,  that  he  was  led  to  the  discovery  of  the 
great  principle  which  binds  worlds  and  systems  in  one  harmoni- 
ous bond,  by  the  falling  of  an  apple.  The  cultivator  of  the 
earth  has  before  him  not  merely  the  fall  but  the  growth  of  the 
apple,  which,  from  the  germination  of  the  seed  to  the  maturity 
of  the  tree,  from  the  opening  of  the  blossom  to  the  ripening  of 
the  fruit,  is  full  of  lessons  of  wisdom ;  and,  in  every  stage  of  its 
progress,  reveals  the  power  and  the  skill  and  the  beneficence  of 
that  divine  agent,  who  fills  all  in  all. 

England  presents  at  this  time  a  more  brilliant  example,  than 
any  age  or  country  has  before  witnessed,  of  the  application,  I  will 
not  say  of  science,  for  that  would  not  comprehend  the  idea  which 
I  wish  to  express,  but  the  application  of  mind  to  agriculture. 
The  practice  of  agriculture,  and  the  philosophy  of  agriculture, 
are  matters  of  universal  interest.  Men  of  all  grades  and  condi- 
tions are  laboring  in  this  great  cause,  and  are  asking  for  the  how^ 
and  the  why,  and  the  wherefore.      The  brighter  intellects  are 


10  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

directing  their  talents  to  agricultural  inquiries  :  and  the  humblest 
in  their  humble,  but  not  inefficient  way,  are  seconding  their 
^efforts.  So  many  minds  concentrating  their  rays  upon  the  same 
point,  they  must  be  sure  to  illuminate  it  with  an  extraordinary 
brilliancy. 

Agriculture  is  now  getting  to  be  recognized  as  the  command- 
ing interest  of  the  state:  so  it  must  ever  be  as  lying  at  the 
foundation  of  all  others.  Few  persons  are  apprized  of  their  obli- 
gations to  agriculture  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  extent 
of  these  obligations.  Every  man's  daily  bread,  his  meat,  his 
clothing,  his  shelter,  his  luxuries,  all  come  from  the  earth.  The 
foundation,  or,  as  the  French  would  say,  the  matei^iel  of  all  com- 
merce and  manufactures,  is  agriculture  ;  and  its  moral  influences 
are  innumerable  and  most  powerful.  It  will  be  found  likewise, 
upon  an  observation  of  the  difterent  conditions  of  difl"erent 
nations  or  communities,  that  a  laborious  agriculture  is,  in  a  high 
degree,  a  conservator  of  good  morals ;  and  that  those  countries 
are,  upon  the  whole,  and  on  this  account,  most  blessed,  not 
where  the  fruits  of  the  earth  are  yielded  spontaneously  without 
care  and  without  toil,  but  where  its  products  come  only  as  the 
reward  of  industry,  and  the  powers  of  the  mind,  as  well  as  the 
labor  of  the  hand,  are  severely  taxed  in  a  struggle  for  the  means 
of  subsistence  and  comfort.  Every  one  recognizes  labor  as  the 
source  of  wealth.  How  few  things  have  any  value,  which  have 
not  been  either  produced  or  modified  by  labor  !  and  in  what 
department  is  labor  so  productive,  so  essential,  and  so  important 
as  in  that  of  asriculture  ? 


IV.  — ENGLISH   AGRICULTURE. 

I  will  not  dwell  longer  upon  these  considerations,  with  which 
every  intelligent  mind  must  be  impressed  ;  and  which  must, 
more  or  less,  constantly  present  themselves  to  our  notice  in  that 
field  of  observation  which  we  have  entered.  I  shall  proceed  to 
present  some  general  views  of  the  agriculture  of  England,  and 
shall  descend,  in  the  course  of  my  reports,  to  such  details  as  may 
be  deemed  useful  and  practical. 

The  condition  of  practical  agriculture  in  Great   Britain,  as  far 


ENGLISH    AGRICULTURE.  11 

as  I  have  had  opportunity  of  observing  it,  must  be  pronounced 
highly  improved.  Many  parts  of  the  country  present  an  order, 
exactness,  and  neatness  of  cultivation  greatly  to  be  admired ;  but 
a  sky  is  seldom  without  clouds,  and  there  are  parts  of  England 
where  the  appearance  is  any  thing  but  laudable,  and  where  there 
are  few  and  very  equivocal  evidences  of  skill,  industry,  or  thrift. 
We  are  often  told  in  America,  that  England  is  only  a  large  gar- 
den, in  which  art,  and  skill,  and  labor,  have  smoothed  all  the 
rough  places,  filled  up  the  hollow  places,  and  brought  every  thing 
into  a  beautiful  and  systematic  harmony,  and  into  the  highest 
degree  of  productiveness.  This  is  not  wholly  true  ;  indeed, 
though  there  are  many  farms  to  be  altogether  admired  for  the 
degree  of  perfection  to  which  their  cultivation  has  been  carried, 
yet  there  are  not  a  few  places  where  the  indications  of  neglect, 
and  indolence,  and  unskilfulness  are  but  too  apparent ;  and  where, 
in  an  obvious  contest  for  victory  between  the  cultivated  plant 
and  the  weeds,  the  latter  triumph  from  their  superiority  both  in 
force  and  numbers.  I  shall,  however,  most  cheerfully  admit 
that  English  farming,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  characterized  by  a 
neatness,  exactness,  thoroughness  seldom  seen  in  my  own  coun- 
try. An  American,  landing  in  Liverpool,  is  at  once  struck  with 
the  amount  of  labor  every  where  expended ;  the  docks,  and  the 
public  buildings,  and  the  lofty  and  magnificent  warehouses  aston- 
ish him  by  the  substantial  and  permanent  character  of  their 
structure.  The  railways,  likewise,  with  their  deep  excavations, 
their  bridges  of  solid  masonry,  their  splendid  viaducts,  their 
immense  tunnels,  extending  in  some  cases  more  than  two  miles 
in  length,  and  their  depots  and  station-houses,  covering  acres  of 
ground, with  their  iron  pillars  and  their  roofs,  also  of  iron,  exhib- 
iting a  sort  of  tracery  or  net-work  of  the  strongest  as  well  as 
most  beautiful  description,  indicate  a  most  profuse  expenditure 
of  labor,  and  are  evidently  made  to  endure.  He  is  still  more 
overpowered  with  amazement  when,  coming  to  London,  he 
passes  up  or  down  the  River  Thames,  and  contemplates  the  sev- 
eral great  bridges,  among  the  most  splendid  objects  which  are  to 
be  seen  in  England,  two  of  which  are  of  iron  and  three  of  stone, 
spanning  this  great  thoroughfare  of  commerce  with  their  beauti- 
ful arches,  and  made  as  if,  as  far  as  human  presumption  can  go, 
they  would  bid  defiance  to  the  decay  and  ravages  of  time.  If 
to  this,  he  adds  (as,  indeed,  how  can  he  help  doing  it  ?)  a  visit 
to  the  Thames  Tunnel,  —  a  secure,  a  dry,  a  brilliant,  and  even  a 


Ife  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

gay  passage  under  the  bed  of  the  stream,  where  the  tides  of  the 
ocean  daily  roll  their  waves,  and  the  mighty  barks  of  commerce 
and  war  float  in  all  their  majesty  and  pride  over  his  head,  exhib- 
iting the  perfection  of  engineering,  and  a  strength  of  construction 
and  finish,  which  leaves  not  a  doubt  of  its  security  and  endurance, 
—  he  perceives  an  expense  of  labor  which  disdains  all  the  lim- 
ited calculations  of  a  young  and  comparatively  poor  country. 
He  remarks  a  thoroughness  of  workmanship  which  is  most 
admirable,  and  which  indicates  a  boldness  and  bravery  of  enter- 
prise, taking  into  its  calculations  not  merely  years  but  centuries 
to  come.  We  have,  in  America,  a  common  saying  in  respect  to 
many  things  which  we  undertake,  that  "  this  will  do  for  the 
present,"  which  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  known  in  England  ; 
and  we  have  a  variety  of  cheap,  insubstantial,  slight-o'-hand 
ways  of  doing  many  things,  sometimes  vulgarly  denominated 
''make-shifts  to  do,"  which  we  ascribe  to  what  we  call  Yankee 
cleverness,  of  which  certainly  no  signs  are  to  be  seen  here. 
Agricultural  operations  and  improvements  are  here  in  general 
conducted  and  finished  in  the  most  thorough  and  substantial 
manner. 

The  walls  enclosing  many  of  the  noblemen's  parks  in  England, 
which  comprehend  hundreds,  and,  in  some  cases,  thousands  of 
acres,  are  brick  walls,  of  ten  and  twelve  feet  in  height,  running 
for  miles  and  miles.  The  walls  round  many  of  the  farms  in 
Scotland,  called  there  "  dikes,"  made  of  the  stone  of  the  coun- 
try, and  laid  in  lime,  and  capped  with  flat  stones  resting  vertically 
upon  their  edges,  are  finished  pieces  of  masonry.  The  improve- 
ments at  the  Duke  of  Portland's,  at  Welbeck,  Nottinghamshire, 
in  his  arrangements  for  draining  and  irrigating,  at  his  pleasure, 
from  three  to  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  —  without  doubt  one  of 
the  most  skilful  and  magnificent  agricultural  improvements  ever 
made, — are  executed  in  the  most  finished  and  permanent  manner  ; 
the  embankments,  the  channels,  the  sluices,  the  dams,  the  gates, 
being  constructed,  in  all  cases  where  it  would  be  most  useful  and 
proper,  of  stone  or  iron.  These  are  only  samples  of  the  style  in 
which  things  are  done  here.  The  important  operations  of  em- 
banking and  of  draining,  especially  under  the  new  system  of 
draining  and  subsoiling,  are  executed  most  thoroughly.  The 
farm  houses  and  farm  buildings  are  of  brick  or  stone,  and  all 
calculated  to  endure. 

I  cannot  recommend,  without  considerable  qualifications,  these 


ENGLISH    CAPITAL.  13 

expensive  ways  of  doing  things  to  my  own  countrymen.  We 
have  not  the  means  —  the  capital  for  accomplishing  them  ;  but 
we  might  gather  from  them  a  useful  lesson ;  for,  in  general,  we 
err  by  an  opposite  extreme.  We  build  too  slightly  —  we  do  not 
execute  our  improvements  thoroughly  —  we  have  little  capital  to 
expend,  without  which,  of  course,  no  substantial  improvements 
can  be  effected ;  and  labor,  with  us,  is  with  more  difficulty  ob- 
tained, with  far  more  difficulty  managed,  and  requires  to  be  much 
more  highly  paid  than  here.  I  hope  I  shall  be  pardoned  for 
adding,  as  my  deliberate  conviction,  that  we  are  too  shy  of  in- 
vesting money  in  improvements  of  this  nature,  however  secure, 
because  they  do  not  yield  so  large  a  percentage  as  many  other 
investments  somewhat  more  questionable  in  a  moral  view,  and 
vastly  more  so  in  respect  to  the  security  which  they  ofter. 

There  are  circumstances  in  the  condition  of  things  here,  which 
certainly  warrant  a  much  more  liberal  expenditure  in  improve- 
ments than  would  be  eligible  with  us.  Here  exist  the  right  of 
primogeniture  and  the  law  of  entail,  so  that  an  estate  remains  in 
the  same  family  for  centuries;  and  a  man  is  comparatively  sure 
that  the  improvements  which  he  makes  will  be  enjoyed  by  his 
children's  children.  Things  are  entirely  different  with  us  — 
houses  in  our  cities  are  continually  changing  hands,  and  are 
scarcely  occupied  by  one  life  ;  and  in  the  country,  even  in  staid 
New  England,  few  estates  are  in  the  hands  of  the  third  or  fourth 
generation  in  the  direct  line  of  descent.  I  shall  not  at  all  dis- 
cuss the  comparative  advantages,  expediency,  or  propriety  of  one 
or  the  other  system.  I  leave  those  inferences  to  others  —  my 
business  is  with  the  fact  as  it  is ;  and,  like  short  leases,  it  has  an 
obvious  tendency  to  hinder  or  discourage  improvements  of  a 
substantial  and  permanent  character,  involving  a  large  expense. 


v.— ENGLISH   CAPITAL. 

Another  marked  distinction,  already  alluded  to,  between  the 

condition  of  the  proprietors  of  the  soil  here  and  with  us,  is  in 

the  amount  of  capital  existing  here.     It  is  absolutely  enormous, 

and  almost  distances  the  system  of  enumeration  which  we  are 

2 


14  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

taught  at  our  common  schools.  Let  me  mention  some  facts 
which  have  been  stated  to  me  on  credible  authority ;  and  let  me 
premise  that  a  pound  sterling  is  about  equal  to  five  dollars  United 
States  currency.  Under  a  law  of  the  present  government,  here, 
levying  a  tax  upon  every  man's  income  when  it  exceeds  one 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling  a  year,  persons  liable  to  taxa- 
tion are  required  to  make  a  just  return  of  their  income  under  a 
heavy  penalty.  A  confectioner,  in  London,  returned,  as  his 
annual  income,  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  or 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  or  six  times  as  much  as 
the  salary  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  ;  which  showed, 
at  least,  how  skilful  he  was  in  compounding  some  of  the  sweets 
of  life.  A  nobleman,  it  is  said,  has  contracted  with  a  master 
builder  to  erect  for  him,  in  London,  four  thousand  —  not  forty  — 
not  four  hundred  —  but  four  thousand  houses  of  a  good  size  for 
occupation.  In  some  of  the  best  parts  of  London,  acres  of  land, 
vast  squares,  are  occupied  with  large  and  elegant  dwelling- 
houses,  paying  heavy  rents,  in  long  rows,  blocks,  and  crescents, 
and  all  belonging  to  some  single  individual.  One  nobleman, 
whose  magnificent  estate  was  left  to  him  by  his  father,  encum- 
bered with  a  debt  of  some  hundred  thousand  pounds,  by  limit- 
mg,  as  it  is  termed  here,  his  own  annual  expenditure  to  thirty 
thousand  pounds,  has  well  nigh  extinguished  this  debt,  and,  in 
all  human  probability,  will  soon  have  his  patrimonial  estate  free 
of  encumbrance.  The  incomes  of  some  of  the  rich  men  in 
the  country,  amount  to  twenty,  twenty-five,  fifty,  one  hundred 
thousand,  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling  —  even  three 
hundred  thousand  pounds  annually.  It  is  very  difficult  for  New 
England  men  even  to  conceive  of  such  wealth.  A  farmer  in 
Lincolnshire  told  me  that  the  crop  of  wheat  grown  upon  his 
farm  one  year  was  eighteen  thousand  bushels.  The  rent  annu- 
ally paid  by  one  farmer  in  Northumberland,  or  the  Lothians, 
exceeded  seven  thousand  pounds,  or  thirty-five  thousand  dollars. 
These  facts,  which  have  been  stated  to  me  by  gentlemen  in 
whose  veracity  I  have  entire  confidence,  and  who  certainly  are 
incapable  of  attempting  any  "  tricks  upon  travellers,"  show  the 
enormous  masses  of  wealth  which  are  here  accumulated.  A 
gentleman  of  distinguished  talents  and  fine  classical  attainments, 
and  who  adds  to  them  a  public  spirit  in  agricultural  improve- 
ment worthy  of  his  education  and  his  high  standing  in  the 
community,  has  recently  added  to  his  property,  by  the  purchase 


ENGLISH    CAPITAL.  15 

of  lands,  to  the  amount  of  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling, that  is,  a  milHon  of  dollars  ;  and  his  estate,  now  in  cul- 
tivation, and  under  his  own  personal  inspection,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  about  four  hundred  acres  lying  in  one  body, 
amounts  to  six  thousand  acres.  Another  gentleman,  of  high 
rank,  in  respect  to  whom  and  to  whose  amiable  family  I  have  a 
constant  struggle  to  restrain  the  open  expression  of  my  grateful 
sense  of  their  kindness,  and  who  —  an  example  here  not  uncom- 
mon—  to  an  extraordinary  brilliancy  of  talent  and  an  accom- 
plished education  unites  the  most  active  spirit  of  agricultural 
improvement,  has,  though  not  all  in  his  immediate  occupation, 
yet  all  under  his  immediate  supervision,  a  tract  of  more  than 
twelve  thousand  acres  in  a  course  of  systematic  cultivation  or 
gradual  improvement.* 

The  income  of  a  single  nobleman,  from  his  coal  mines, 
exceeds  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling  a  year ;  and  I 
believe  this  is  not  the  largest  of  the  coal  possessions.  With  such 
wealth  as  this,  men  may  make  what  improvements  they  please, 
and  attempt  what  experiments  they  may  deem  worth  trying; 
but  should  such  imaginations  ever  visit  a  New  England  or  a 
United  States  farmer  in  his  dreams,  if  JGsop's  fable  of  the  frog, 
who  attempted  to  swell  himself  to  the  size  of  the  ox,  did  not 
cure  him,  he  might  be  deemed  a  fit  subject  for  a  lunatic  asylum. 
There  are  other  circumstances  in  the  case  which  are  to  be  added, 
and  those  are  the  cheapness  of  iron,  the  abundance  of  coal,  and 
the  admirable  facility  and  skill  with  which  the  former  material 
is  wrought.  Wood,  and  especially  the  soft  woods,  which  are  so 
much  wrought  among  us,  are  here  scarce  and  dear,  and,  there- 
fore, seldom  used  for  building  purposes  ;  bricks,  and,  in  many 
parts  of  the  country,  good  building  stone,  of  the  best  quality, 
are  abundant.  Most  of  the  cottages  which  I  have  seen  have 
brick  or  stone  floors,  though  many  have  only  hardly-trodden 
clay  and  earth  ;  and  the  entries  of  the  best  houses  are  generally 


*  1  mention  these  examples  —  to  which,  from  my  own  knowledge,  I  might 
add  many  others  —  in  the  form  I  do,  for  the  purpose,  by  the  way,  of  showing  my 
American  friends  that  agriculture  here  takes  its  proper  rank  among  the  liberal 
professions,  and  that  not  merely  as  a  recreation,  but  as  a  business  ;  and  in  all  its 
minute  and  practical  details,  it  is  not  deemed  incompatible  with  the  highest 
distinctions  of  talent,  education,  and  rank,  but  rather  as  a  pursuit  in  which  tlicy 
all  may  most  usefully  and  honorably  lend  their  combined  influence. 


16  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

payed,  and  the  staircases  made  of  stone.  A  fence  of  iron,  afford- 
ing a  sufficient  protection  against  cattle,  is  made  here  at  a  less 
expense  than  many  wooden  fences  are  made  with  us. 


VI.  — GENERAL  APPEARANCE   OF   THE  COUNTRY. 

I  may  be  allowed  to  put  down  marks  of  difference  in  the 
general  appearance  of  the  country,  as  compared  with  my  own, 
as  they  strike  my  attention.  I  need  not  say  that  England  is 
entirely  devoid  of  a  feature  which  strongly  marks  the  newly- 
cleared  parts  of  my  own  country,  and  that  is  the  stumps  of  trees, 
which  have  been  cut  down,  or  the  large,  naked,  and  dead  stand- 
ing skeletons  of  trees,  which  have  been  girdled,  that  the  pioneer, 
in  subduing  the  wilderness,  might  have  a  chance  of  getting  bread 
for  himself  and  his  family,  while  he  was  endeavoring  to  tame  the 
wildness  of  nature  and  to  convert  the  forest  into  a  fruitful  field. 
England  exhibits,  of  course,  nothing  of  this,  for  the  days  of  its 
youth  have  long  since  passed,  and  its  agriculture  reckons  its  pa- 
triarchal centuries.  But  there  is  another  thing  remarkable  :  the 
cultivated  fields  are  entirely  free  from  rocks  and  stones,  excepting 
the  limestone  and  flint  pebbles  in  the  chalk  formations.  In  the 
clay  soils  and  on  the  peaty  moors,  they,  of  course,  are  not  to  be 
looked  for  ;  but,  where  even  they  once  existed,  they  have  been 
entirely  removed  or  buried,  and  there  is  nothing  to  interrupt  or 
impede  the  progress  of  the  plough.  This  is  not  so  generally  the 
case  in  my  own  country  as  is  to  be  desired.  It  is,  indeed,  an 
affair  of  very  difficult  accomplishment  in  many  cases,  where,  in  a 
granitic  region  for  example,  the  stones  are  often  within  stepping 
distance  of  each  other  all  over  a  farm,  and  where  every  fresh 
ploughing  seems  to  turn  up  a  fresh  crop  of  stones.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  are  too  many  cases  where,  with  equal  ad- 
vantage to  the  purse  as  pleasure  to  the  eye,  such  unsightly  rub- 
bish might  be  removed  or  buried  ;  yet  there  are  fields,  within 
my  own  knowledge,  where  I  may  say,  with  confidence,  the 
same  piles  of  stones  which  were  collected  for  removal,  full 
half  a  century  ago,  retain  their  original  position  until  this 
day ;  the  plough,  whenever  they  are  broken  up,  being   always 


APPEARANCE  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  17 

compelled,  at  no  small  expense  of  time  and  trouble,  (as  a 
sailor  would  say,)  to  give  these  heaps  a  good  berth;  and  only 
going  near  enough  to  them  to  refresh  and  invigorate  the  roots 
of  the  briers  and  bramble  bushes,  by  which  they  are  usually 
ornamented,  and  which,  to  my  taste,  are  quite  as  offensive  in  a 
farmer's  field  as  the  "mustachios  and  imperials"  so  often  seen 
upon  the  monkey  masque,  which  passes,  by  the  mere  indulgence 
and  good  humor  of  society,  for  a  human  face.  Throughout 
those  parts  of  England  which  I  have  seen,  there  are,  as  I  have 
already  remarked,  an  exactness,  a  finish,  and  a  cleanness  in  the 
cultivation,  which  impress  a  stranger  most  agreeably,  and  de- 
serve the  highest  commendation.  There  are,  occasionally,  im- 
mense tracts  of  unenclosed  commons,  and  heaths,  and  moors, 
where  there  is  no  cultivation,  where  nothing  grows,  and,  in  some 
cases,  little  can  ever  be  made  to  grow  ;  or  which,  otherwise,  are 
abandoned  to  the  growth  of  furze  or  gorse  for  the  protection  of 
the  game,  and  for  the  pleasures  of  the  chase.  These  are  called 
preserves,  and  are  leased  to  sportsmen  occasionally,  or,  rather,  the 
right  to  kill  game  upon  them  is  leased,  at  a  rate  which  we  should 
deem  a  high  rent,  even  for  purposes  of  cultivation.  An  eminent 
agriculturist  has  shown  that,  in  England  and  Scotland,  there  are 
full  10,000,000  acres  in  heath  or  moor,  all  susceptible  of  being 
brought  into  productive  cultivation.  These  lands,  of  course, 
remain  as  they  are  hy  voluntary  neglect  or  design.  But  I  refer 
to  the  cultivated  and  improved  lands  ,*  and  here  there  is  every 
where  a  surprising  neatness  and  finish  —  every  thing  is  done,  as 
it  were,  by  line  and  measure  ;  the  corners  and  the  head  lands  are 
thoroughly  cleaned,  the  open  ditches  are  kept  unobstructed,  the 
crops  are  drilled  in  straight  lines,  and  a  newly-ploughed  field 
resembles  a  plaited  ruffle  from  the  ironing  board  of  a  good 
housewife.  Such  exactness  is  exceedingly  beautiful,  and, 
though  it  may  appear,  at  first,  to  consume  a  good  deal  of  time, 
will  be  found,  in  the  long  run,  to  be  more  economical  than  the 
slovenly  way  in  which  things  are  often  done  in  many  places, 
which  I  am  reluctant  to  name.  There  is  a  pleasure  aflbrded  by 
such  neatness  which  is  very  great,  and  which  can  be  properly 
appreciated  only  by  those  who  have  been  largely  endowed  by 
nature  with  the  organ  of  order. 
2* 


18  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


VII.  — HEDGES   AND   ENCLOSURES. 

The  green  fences  in  England,  by  which  the  farms  are  sur- 
rounded and  divided,  are  often  a  beautifal  feature  in  the  land- 
scape. Where  they  are  complete,  and  neatly  trimmed  and 
formed,  with  here  and  there  a  single  plant  left  to  rise  above  the 
rest,  which  many  deem  more  beautiful  to  the  eye  than  a  demo- 
cratic level,  and  when  seen  Avhitened  with  their  blossoms  in  the 
spring,  or  blushing  deeply  with  their  fruit  in  autumn,  they  are 
exceedingly  pleasing  to  the  eye.  In  general,  they  are  formed 
of  the  white  thorn,  and  sometimes  of  the  holly,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  of  these  two  plants  intermingled.  But  I  must  confess 
myself  somewhat  disappointed  in  the  condition  of  the  hedges 
throughout  England.  Of  course  there  are  many  exceptions,  and 
perhaps  the  cases  to  which  I  refer  should  be  considered  as 
exceptions  to  the  general  fact  ;  but  in  frequent  instances  they 
are  greatly  neglected.  There  are  many  vacancies  in  them  :  they 
are  not  well  trimmed  ,*  they  are  intermingled  with  various  weeds 
and  rubbish  ;  and,  instead  of  being  confined  to  a  width  of  four 
or  six  feet,  they  are  often  seen  with  their  pernicious  accompani- 
ments occupying  more  than  a  rod  in  width.  I  inquired  why 
this  was  permitted ;  and  why,  when  the  rest  of  the  face  was  so 
clear  and  bright,  such  dirt  spots  were  allowed  to  remain :  the 
answer  was,  "  that  they  Avere  left  thus  for  the  protection  of  the 
game,  and  that  they  made  excellent  covers  for  partridges  and 
foxes."  When  so  much  care  and  expense  are  incurred  in  the 
protection  of  this  kind  of  game,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  may 
suggest  always  the  higher  duty  of  taking  care  of  the  human 
game,  the  hungry  and  ragged  children,  which  in  some  parts  of 
England  are  as  numerous,  and  growing  up  as  wild,  and  many  of 
them  as  little  taught,  as  the  rabbits  in  a  warren. 

The  enclosures  in  England  are  of  various  extent,  from  ten  to 
twenty  and  fifty  acres.  There  are  some  farms  with  scarcely  a 
subdivision,  and  in  these  cases  the  stock  are  soiled.  In  parts  of 
England,  however,  they  resemble  the  divisions  of  New  England 
farms,  and  are  of  various  sizes,  but  generally  small,  and  of  all 
shapes,  and  often  not  exceeding  four  or  five  acres.  It  is  reported 
of  a  farmer  in  Devonshire,  that  he  lately  cultivated  one  hundred 
acres  of  wheat  in  fifty  different  fields.     There  must  have  been 


HEDGES    AND    ENCLOSURES.  19 

here  a  great  waste  of  land  and  labor.  One  of  the  most  compe- 
tent judges  of  agricultural  improvement  in  England  says,  how- 
ever, that  *'his  tenants  never  wish  to  have  more  than  one 
ploughed  field  on  a  farm." 

The  loss  in  land  by  too  many  fences,  the  loss  of  time  in  culti- 
vating in  small  fields  instead  of  large,  on  account  of  the  necessity 
of  more  frequent  turnings,  and  ploughing  the  head  lands  by 
themselves,  and  the  actual  cost  of  making  and  of  maintaining  the 
fences,  not  to  add  that  these  fences  are  a  shelter  for  weeds,  and 
a  harbor  for  vermin,  are  serious  considerations.  The  statement 
of  an  intelligent  practical  farmer  in  Staffordshire,  on  the  highly- 
improved  estate  of  Lord  Hatherton,  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
visiting  with  Mr.  P.  Pusey,  M.  P.,  as  given  to  Mr.  Pusey,  is  well 
worth  recording.  Speaking  of  the  farm  called  the  Yew-Tree 
Farm,  he  says,  "  The  turnip  field  is  sixty-five  acres ;  it  was,  two 
years  back,  at  the  time  I  entered  upon  the  farm,  in  eight  enclo- 
sures. I  have  taken  up  1914  yards  of  fence,  and  intend  divid- 
ing it  into  three  fields :  it  will  take  800  yards  of  new  fence. 
The  field  in  which  I  was  subsoiling  is  forty-two  acres;  it  was  in 
six  enclosures.  I  took  up  1264  yards  of  fence  ;  if  I  divide  this 
field,  it  will  take  300  yards  of  new  fence.  The  land  Lord 
Hatherton  mentioned  on  my  Deanery  Farm  was  originally  in 
twenty-seven  enclosures;  ninety-one  acres.  I  took  up  4427 
yards  of  fences  ;  it  will  now  lie  in  five  fields,  and  will  take  1016 
yards  of  new  fence." 

''I  cannot,"  he  adds,  "really  say  what  land  is  gained  by  the 
different  operations ;  but  some  of  the  fences  were  from  three  to 
four  yards  or  more  wide,  that  the  plough  never  touched ;  my 
new  fences  are  upon  the  level  without  ditches.  In  the  whole 
of  the  old  fences  there  was  a  great  number  of  ash-trees,  which 
are  all  stocked  up,  as  well  as  a  good  part  of  the  oak,  only  leaving 
a  few  for  ornament  and  shelter.  I  think  the  greatest  gain  in 
land  will  be  from  getting  rid  of  the  trees."* 

This  is  the  experience  and  opinion  of  a  sound  practical  farmer, 
and  is  entitled  to  great  weight.  In  some  of  the  counties  large 
enclosures  prevail.  In  parts  of  Lincolnshire  the  enclosures 
embrace  about  fifty  acres  each ;  and  on  the  best  managed  farms 
which  I  saw,  these  fields  were  mostly  laid  either  in  parallelograms 
or  squares.     In  the  fens  or  redeemed  lands  of  Lincolnshire,  the 

*  Journal  of  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  vol.  iv.  part  2,  p.  306,  note. 


20  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

ditches  around  and  through  the  land  form  sufficient  and  the  only 
fences.  In  the  county  of  Northumberland,  and  in  the  Lothians, 
the  enclosures  are  very  extensive,  and,  excepting  on  the  outlines, 
no  fences  appear.  The  plough,  in  such  case,  when  it  starts, 
takes  its  course,  and  runs  to  the  end  of  these  long  fields  without 
interruption. 

Mr.  Pusey,  in  Berkshire,  on  one  of  the  best  managed  estates 
which  I  have  visited,  has  induced  many  of  his  tenants  to  take 
away  the  inner  fences  and  leave  the  fields  open.  Sheep  are,  of 
course,  never  suffered  to  graze  or  roam  at  pleasure  over  these 
large  fields,  but  are  fed  in  enclosures  formed  of  movable  hurdles 
in  different  j)arts  of  the  field,  where  their  manure  is  required. 
Cattle  never  go  at  large  upon  them ;  and  the  convenience  of 
cultivating  where  the  lands  are  thus  open,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
beauty  of  the  appearance,  in  addition  to  other  advantages  already 
alluded  to,  is  at  once  obvious  and  decisive. 


VIIL— IRON   AND   SUNKEN   FENCES. 

I  shall  speak  in  this  place  of  two  kinds  of  fences  which  are 
common  on.  gentlemen's  seats,  and  one  of  which  may  be  safely 
recommended  to  my  own  countrymen.  The  first  is  an  iron 
fence,  called  here  an  invisible  fence.  This  is  made  of  stout  iron 
wire,  about  one  third  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  consists  of  four 
or  five  bars  or  rods,  with  upright  pieces  of  iron,  about  an  inch 
and  a  quarter  in  width,  and  about  one  third  of  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness, placed  at  about  six  feet  distance  from  each  other.  Through 
these  upright  and  flat  pieces  of  iron  the  bars  or  rods  are  passed, 
and  they  serve  to  keep  them  secure.  Every  alternate  one  of 
these  upright  bars  has  a  foot  to  it,  and  being  sunk  in  the  ground 
about  a  foot  or  more,  serves  as  a  post  to  keep  the  fence  steady  ; 
and  occasionally  these  posts,  if  so  they  may  be  called,  have  side 
supports,  thus  ;  1  these,  of  course,  increase  the  strength  of 
the  fence,  but  /k  they  are  not  indispensable.  These  fences 
are  very  cheap,  /  I  \  on  account  of  the  abundance  of  iron  and 
the  facility  with  which  it  is  wrought ;  and  being  kept  painted 
commonly  of  a  green  color,  they  do  not  appear  until  you  approach 


THE    ENGLISH    PARKS.  ^1 

near  them ;  but  no  animals  attempt  to  pass  them,  and,  when  well 
taken  care  of,  they  are  durable,  and,  it  is  obvious,  may  be  easily 
removed  from  place  to  place. 

There  is  another  kind  of  fence  often  formed,  called  a  sunken 
fence  ;  or  ^^  ha !  ha  !  "  from  its  generally  taking  persons  by  sur- 
prise, as  it  does  not  appear  until  you  reach  it.  A  trench  is  dug 
as  deep  as  it  is  required  that  the  height  of  the  wall  shall  be  from 
the  bottom  of  the  trench  ;  one  side  of  ihe  trench  is  perpendicu- 
lar, and  against  this  side  the  wall  is  erected ;  the  other  side  is 
made  slanting  at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees,  and  the 
slanting  side  is  grassed,  and  may  be  mowed  clear  to  the  bottom, 
so  that  no  land  is  lost ;  but,  in  truth,  a  small  amount  is  gained. 
The  object  is  to  conceal  the  fence,  so  that  when  placed  round 
the  grounds  of  a  gentleman's  house,  the  prospect  of  the  lawn  or 
field  is  not  interrupted  by  an  unsightly  wall ;  and  the  grounds 
within  the  enclosure  may  be  cultivated  or  embellished  in  any 
way  with  shrubs,  or  flowers,  or  fruit,  and  yet  the  cattle  feeding 
beyond  it,  whom  no  visible  obstruction  appears  to  keep  at  a 
distance,  are  effectually  excluded,  as  no  animal  attempts  ever  to 
leap  such  a  fence. 


IX.  — THE   ENGLISH   PARKS. 

I  will  take  this  occasion  to  speak  of  the  extensive  parks  which 
are  to  be  seen  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  which  consti- 
tute a  truly  magnificent  feature  in  English  scenery.  These  are 
the  open  grounds,  which  surround  the  houses  of  the  rich  and 
noble  in  the  country.  By  open,  I  do  not  mean  entirely  free 
from  trees,  because  many  of  them  are  exceedingly  well  stocked 
with  trees,  sometimes  standing  single,  at  other  times  in  clumps ; 
sometimes  in  belts,  sometimes  in  rows,  and  squares,  and  circular 
plantations  ,•  and  more  often  scattered,  as  if  they  were  carelessly 
thrown  down  broadcast.  The  ground  under  them  is  kept  in 
grass,  and  depastured  by  cattle,  sheep,  and  deer;  and  affords 
often  the  richest  herbage.  With  some  exceptions,  a  plough  is 
never  suffered  to  disturb  these  grounds  ;  and  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  house,  which  is  generally  placed  in  the  centre  of  them, 
the  portion  which  is  separated  from  the  rest,  as  I  have  observed, 


22  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

by  an  invisible  or  sunken  fence  just  now  described,  for  the  culti- 
vation of  ornamental  trees  and  shrubs,  is  kept  so  closely  and 
evenly  shorn,  that  to  walk  upon  it  seems  more  like  treading  upon 
velvet  than  upon  grass.  Nothing  of  the  kind  can  be  more  beau- 
tiful ;  and  I  never  before  knew  the  force  of  that  striking  expres- 
sion of  the  prince  of  poets,  Milton,  of  "  walking  on  the  smooth 
shaven  lawn  ;  "  for  it  seems  to  be  cut  with  a  razor  rather  than 
with  a  scythe;  and  after  a  gentle  shower  it  really  appears  as  if 
the  field  had  had  its  face  washed,  and  its  hair  combed  with  a 
fine-tooth  comb.  It  is  brought  to  this  perfection  by  being  kept 
often  mown  ;  and  I  have  stood  by  with  perfect  admiration  to  see 
a  swarth  mowed  evenly  and  perfectly,  where  the  grass  to  be  cut 
was  scarcely  more  than  an  inch  high. 

These  parks  which  I  have  described  abound,  as  observed,  with 
trees  of  extraordinary  age  and  size.  They  are  not  like  the  trees 
of  our  original  forests,  growing  up  to  a  great  height,  and,  on 
account  of  the  crowded  state  of  the  neighborhood,  throwing  out 
few  lateral  branches  ;  but  what  they  want  in  height,  they  gain 
in  breadth ;  and,  if  I  may  be  excused  for  a  hard  word,  in  um- 
brageousness.  I  measured  one  in  Lord  Bagot's  celebrated  park 
in  Staffordshire,  and  going  round  the  outside  of  the  branches, 
keeping  witliin  the  droppings,  the  circuit  was  a  hundred  yards. 
The  circumference  of  some  of  the  celebrated  oaks  in  the  park  of 
the  Duke  of  Portland,  which  we  measured  together,  when  he  did 
me  the  kindness  to  accompany  me  through  his  grounds,  seem 
worthy  of  record.  The  Little  Porter  Oak  measured  27  feet  in 
circumference  ;  the  Great  Porter  Oak  is  29  feet  in  circumference; 
the  Seven  Sisters,  33  feet  in  circumference.  The  Great  Porter 
Oak  was  of  a  very  large  diameter,  50  feet  above  the  ground  : 
and  the  opening  in  the  trunk  of  the  Green  Dale  Oak  was  at  one 
time  large  enough  to  admit  the  passage  of  a  small  carriage 
through  it ;  by  advancing  years  the  space  has  become  somewhat 
contracted.  These  indeed  are  noble  trees,  though  it  must  be 
confessed  that  they  were  thrown  quite  into  the  shade  by  the 
magnificent  Kentucky  Buttonwood  or  Sycamore,  of  whose 
trunk  I  saw  a  complete  section  exhibited  at  Derby,  measuring 
25  feet  in  diameter  and  75  feet  in  circumference.  This  was 
brought  from  the  United  States,  and  indeed  might  well  be 
denominated  the  mammoth  of  the  forest. 

In  these  ancient  parks,  oaks^nd  beeches  are  the  predominant 
trees,  with  occasional  chestnuts  and  ashes.     In  very  many  cases 


THE    ENGLISH    PARKS.  23 

I  saw  the  beauty  and  force  of  that  first  line  in  the  pastorals  of 
Virgilj  where  he   addresses  Tityriis  as  '•  playing  upon   his  lute 
under  the   spreading  shade  of  a  beech-tree.^^     These   trees  are 
looked  upon  with  great  veneration  ;  in  many  cases,  they  are  num- 
bered ;  in  some,  a  label   is   affixed  to   them,  giving   their  age  ; 
sometimes  a  stone  monument  is  erected,  saying  when  and  by 
whom   this  forest  or  this  clump  was  planted  ;  and  commonly 
some  record  is  kept  of  them  as  a  part  of  the  family  history.     I 
respect   this  trait  in  the  character  of  the  English,  and  I  sympa- 
thize with  them  in  their  veneration  for  old  trees.     They  are  the 
growth  often  of  centuries,  and  the  monuments  of  years  gone  by. 
They  were  the  companions  of  our  fathers,  who,  it  may  be,  were 
nourished  by  their  fruit,  and  reposed  under  their  shade.     Perhaps 
they  were  planted   by  the  very  hands  of  those  from  whom  we 
have    descended ;    and    whose    far-sighted    and    comprehensive 
beneficence  embraced  a  distant  posterity.     How  many  revolu- 
tions and  vicissitudes  in  the  fortunes  of  men  have  they  surveyed 
and  survived  !     They  have  been  pelted  by  many  a  storm  ;  the 
hoarse   and  swift  wind   has  often  growled  and  whistled  among 
their  branches  ;  the   lightnings  and   tempest  have  many  a  time 
bent  their  limbs  and   scathed  their  trunks.     But  they,  like  the 
good  and  the  truly  great  in  seasons  of  trial,  have  stood  firm  and 
retained  their  integrity.     They  have  seen  one  generation  of  men 
treading  upon  the  heels  of  another,  and  rapidly  passing  away ; 
wars  have  burst  forth  in  volcanic  explosions,  and  have  gone  out ; 
revolutions    have    made    their   changes,   and   the    wheel   again 
returned  to  its  starting  point ;    governments  and  princes  have 
flourished   and  faded;    and   the   current  of  human  destiny  has 
flowed  at   their  roots,  bearing  onwards  to   the   traveller's  bourn 
one  family  and  one  people  after  another ;  but  they  still  stand, 
green  in  their  old  age,  as  the  mute   yet  eloquent  historians  of 
departed  years.     Why  should  we  not  look  upon  them  with  rev- 
erence ?     I  cannot  quite  enter  into  the  enthusiasm  of  an  excel- 
lent friend,  who  used  to  say  that  the  cutting  down  of  an  old  tree 
ought  to  be  made  a  capital  off'ence  at  law  ;  yet  I  deem  it  almost 
sacrilegious  to  destroy  them,  excepting  where  necessity  demands 
it  ;  and  I  would  always  advise  that  an  old   tree,  standing  in  a 
conspicuous  station  either  for  use  or  ornament,  should  be  at  least 
once  more  wintered  and  summered  before  the  sentence  of  death, 
which  may  be  passed  upon  it,  is  carried  into  execution. 

The  trees  in  the  park  of  the   palace  of  Hampton  Court  are, 


24  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

many  of  them,  the  horse-chestnut  and  the  lime,  of  great  age  and 
eminent  beauty ;  several  straight  lines  of  them  forming,  for  a 
long  distance,  the  approach  to  the  palace.  On  a  clear,  bright 
day.  at  the  season  of  their  flowering,  I  passed  through  this  mag- 
nificent avenue  with  inexpressible  delight.  I  passed  through 
them  again  late  in  the  autumn,  when  the  frost  had  marred  their 
beauty,  and  the  autumnal  gales  had  stripped  off  their  leaves  ;  but 
they  were  still  venerable  in  the  simple  majesty  of  their  gigantic 
and  spreading  forms.  I  could  not  help  reflecting,  with  grateful 
emotion,  on  that  beneficent  Power,  which  shall  presently  breathe 
upon  these  apparently  lifeless  statues,  and  clothe  them  with  the 
glittering  foliage  of  spring,  and  the  rich  and  splendid  glories  of 
summer.  So  be  it  with  those  of  us  who  have  got  far  on  into 
the  autumn,  or  stand  shivering  in  the  winter  of  life  ! 

The  extent  of  these  parks,  in  many  cases,  filled  me  with  sur- 
prise. They  embrace  hundreds,  in  some  instances  thousands,  of 
acres ;  *  and  you  enter  them  by  gates,  where  a  porter's  lodge  is 
always  to  be  found.  After  entering  the  park  gate,  I  have  rode 
sometimes  several  miles  before  reaching  the  house.  They  are 
in  general  devoted  to  the  pasturage  of  sheep,  cattle,  and  deer. ; 
In  the  park  at  Chatsworth,  the  herd  of  deer  exceeded  sixteen\ 
hundred.  These  deer  are  kept  at  no  inconsiderable  expense, 
requiring  abundant  pasturage  in  summer,  and  hay  and  grain  in 
winter.  An  English  pasture  is  seldom  or  never  ploughed.  Many 
of  them  have  been  in  grass  beyond  the  memory  of  any  one  living. 
The  turf  becomes  extremely  close  and  hard  ;  and  the  feeding  of 
sheep  and  cattle  undoubtedly  enriches  the  land,  especially  under 
the  careful  management  of  one  eminent  farmer, — and  many 
more,  doubtless,  are  like  him,  —  on  whose  pasture  grounds  the 
manure  of  the  cattle  was  daily  collected  and  evenly  spread. 

In  speaking  of  the  parks  in  the  country,  I  surely  ought  not  to 
pass  in  silence  the  magnificent  parks  of  London,  as  truly  mag- 
nificent they  must  be  called,  including  St.  James's  Park,  Green 
Park,  Kensington  Gardens,  Hyde  Park,  and  Regent's  Park. 

Kensington  Gardens,  exclusive  of  private  gardens,  within  its 
enclosures  contains  227  acres ;  Hyde  Park,  380  acres ;  Green 
Park,  connected  with  St.  James's  Park,  56  acres ;  St.  James's 
Park,  87  acres ;  Regent's  Park,  372  acres ;  terraces  and  canals 
connected  with  Regent's  Park,  80  acres  —  making  a  grand  total 

*  Windsor  Great  Park  contains  3500  acres,  and  the  Little  Park  300  acres. 


I 


THE    ENGLISH    PARKS.  25 

of  1202  acres.  To  these  should  be  added  the  large,  elegant,  and 
highly-embellished  public  squares  in  various  parts  of  London, 
and  even  in  the  most  crowded  parts  of  the  old  city,  which,  in 
all,  probably  exceed  200  acres.  These  magnificent  parks,  it 
must  be  remembered,  are  in  the  midst  of  a  populous  town, 
including  upwards  of  two  millions  of  inhabitants,  and  are  open 
to  the  public  for  exercise,  health,  and  amusement.  They  are,  at 
the  same  time,  to  a  degree  stocked  with  sheep  and  cows. 

It  is  impossible  to  over-estimate  the  value  to  health  of  these 
open  spaces,  and  the  amount  of  recreation  and  rational  enjoyment 
which  they  afford  to  this  vast  population.  In  each  of  the  large 
parks — Kensington,  Hyde  Park,  and  St.  James's — there  are 
extensive  bodies  of  water,  artificial  lakes,  in  some  places  adorned 
with  elegant  bridges,  and  in  St.  James's  Park  studded  with 
pretty  islands  and  shrubbery.  Here  large  varieties  of  aquatic 
birds  are  kept,  to  the  great  amusement  of  the  thousands  of  chil- 
dren, who  coax  them  to  the  shore  with  crumbs  of  bread  and  cake, 
the  birds  being  so  tame  as  almost  to  feed  out  of  their  hands,  and 
for  the  instruction  of  older  heads.  There  is  likewise  an  exceed- 
ingly beautiful  and  tasteful  cottage,  of  Gothic  architecture,  at  the 
end  of  the  lake  in  St.  James's  Park,  for  the  residence  of  the 
keeper  of  the  birds.  There  are  always  to  be  found  in  some  parts 
of  the  parks,  or  at  the  keepers'  different  lodges,  some  cows  kept, 
where  a  glass  of  milk,  unadulterated  and  fresh  from  the  fountain, 
can  be  had  for  those  persons  who,  for  health  or  pleasure,  seek 
the  delicious  beverage  in  its  purity.  The  numbers  and  tameness 
of  the  birds  in  these  pleasure-grounds  is  a  beautiful  circumstance, 
which  it  might  be  well  to  consider  in  some  other  quarters. 
Their  safety  and  lives  are  held  sacred  ;  and  the  birds  gratefully, 
and,  to  a  feeling  heart,  delightfully  acknowledge  this  kindness 
by  the  most  expressive  confidence,  alighting  fearlessly  in  the 
path  before  you,  as  though  they  would  invite  you  to  cultivate 
their  acquaintance.  Man,  in  general,  is  a  great  savage,  and  a 
ferocious  and  insatiate  animal  of  prey.  He  makes  continual  war 
upon  many  of  the  animals  below  him,  not  for  subsistence  merely, 
but  for  pleasure.  His  conduct  towards  the  brute  creation  shows, 
too  often,  how  certain  he  is  to  abuse  unlimited  power,  and  con- 
veys a  strong  argument  against  despotic  authority.  Indeed,  his 
war  upon  the  birds  merely  as  matter  of  sport,  always  makes  me 
look  upon  him  with  a  degree  of  shuddering,  and  feel  that  a  man 
who  can  find  his  pleasure  in  the  wanton  destruction  of  little 
3 


ni 


5J6  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

birds,  the  most  humble  of  all  animals  in  their  claims,  the  most 
delicate,  innocent,  and  pure  in  all  their  tastes  and  habits,  and 
comparatively  useless  for  food,  puts  himself  beyond  the  pale  of 
humanity,  and  could  scarcely,  with  safety,  be  trusted  with  a 
child.  It  were  worth  considering  always,  how  many  of  our 
pleasures  are  purchased  at  a  most  bitter  expense  of  happiness  and 
life  to  others  !  Two  or  three  days'  coursing,  manly  and  health- 
ful as  the  exercise  on  horseback  undoubtedly  is,  and  strongly 
exciting  as  the  sport  is,  did  not  quite  reconcile  me  to  it ;  and  the 
wailings  and  shriekings  of  the  affrighted  and  dying  hares,  in  the 
jaws  of  the  hounds,  sounded  in  my  ears,  for  several  days  after- 
wards, like  the  cries  of  expiring  children. 

I  shall  not  be  straying  from  my  proper  duty  if  I  urge  the 
beneficent  example  of  London  strongly  upon  my  own  country- 
men. In  Boston,  excepting  the  Common  —  containing  about 
forty-five  acres  of  ground,  exceedingly  beautiful  in  its  location 
and  improvements  —  and  some  few  openings  upon  a  very  limited 
scale,  there  is  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  population  crowded 
together  in  one  dense  mass,  with  narrow  streets  and  confined 
alleys,  and  basement  stories,  doomed  to  a  comparative  privation 
of  Heaven's  freest  and  greatest  blessings  —  light  and  air.  A 
Botanical  and  Pleasure  Garden  has  been  laid  out,  and  is  mjlin- 
tained  by  private  subscription,  accessible  to  subscribers  or  upon 
the  payment  of  a  light  fee,  which  it  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped,  for 
the  credit  of  this  city,  long  distinguished  by  its  liberality  and 
public  spirit,  may  receive  every  encouragement,  so  that  its  im- 
provements and  advantages  may  be  greatly  extended.  New  York. 
with  a  population  of  three  times  the  extent  of  Boston,  is  scarcely 
more  favored,  excepting  in  the  width  of  its  streets  ;  for,  with  the 
exception  of  those  delightful  grounds,  the  Battery,  at  the  very 
extremity  of  the  city,  the  open  space  in  front  of  the  City  Hall, 
dignified,  par  excellence,  by  the  name  of  the  Park,  and  the  open 
grounds  attached  to  St.  John's  Church,  and  the  University,  but 
not  accessible  to  the  public,  the  city  has  no  provision  of  this  kind 
for  public  recreation  and  health.  As  there  is  little  room  in  the 
city  proper  which  can  now  be  obtained,  she  ought  at  once,  at 
any  expense,  to  secure  the  charming  grounds  at  Hoboken,  to  be 
devoted  forever  and  exclusively  to  these  objects.  Having  already, 
with  the  most  honorable  enterprise,  achieved  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  undertakings  of  the  age,  or  indeed  of  any  age,  — 
that  of  bringing,  by  a  capacious  tunnel  of  forty  miles  in  length,  a 


r 


THE    ENGLISH    PARKS.  27 

river  of  pure  water  into  her  city,  and  dispensing,  Avith  an  unre- 
strained munificence,  to  those  who  cannot  purchase  it,  this  most 
important  element,  next  to  vital  air,  of  human  existence  ;  let  her 
go  on  and  make  the  other  provision,  to  which  I  have  referred, 
for  the  health  and  comfort  of  a  population  already  great,  and 
destined  to  increase  with  an  unexampled  rapidity  beyond  any 
bounds  which  the  imagination  would  now  even  dare  to  prescribe. 

Philadelphia  has  set  a  better  example  than  most  other  cities  in 
this  respect,  in  having  laid  out  her  streets  of  a  capacious  width, 
in  having  given  to  most  of  her  houses  yards  or  gardens  of  a  good 
size,  and  in  having  formed,  in  different  parts  of  the  city,  public 
squares  of  some  extent,  which  are  equally  ornamental  and  useful. 
But  she  has  done  little  compared  with  what  she  might  have 
done ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  she  will  be  prompted  to  add  to 
a  city,  the  most  convenient  and  beautiful  in  the  Union,  some 
public  gardens  and  pleasure-grounds,  admission  to  which  shall  be 
freely  offered  to  her  inhabitants;  and  more  especially  for  the 
benefit  of  that  class  of  them  who  can  have  no  such  indulgences 
but  as  the  offerings  of  public  beneficence.  Baltimore  has  noth- 
ing that  deserves  the  name  of  a  square  or  a  pleasure-ground, 
unless  we  are  to  rank  under  that  designation  the  beautiful  enclo- 
sure which  she  has  recently  purchased  for  a  cemetery ;  a  place, 
indeed,  for  a  melancholy  and  instructive  pleasure,  but  more 
properly  devoted  to  silence  and  seclusion,  and  not  at  all  of  the 
character  to  which  I  refer.  Lowell  —  destined  to  contain  a  large 
and  laborious  population,  and  of  a  character  particularly  demand- 
ing such  places  of  recreation,  with  an  unlimited  extent  of  land 
at  her  disposal  costing  scarcely  any  thing,  and  with  an  inv^est- 
ment  in  her  manufacturing  establishments  of  ten  or  eleven  mil- 
lions of  dollars  —  has  not  a  public  square  so  large  as  a  pocket- 
handkerchief.  This  omission  has  always  impressed  me  with 
painful  surprise.  Knowing,  as  I  do,  the  high  character  of  the 
gentleman  who  founded  and  built  this  flourishing  city,  now 
grown  to  manhood  almost  in  a  day,  I  can  ascribe  such  an  omis- 
sion only  to  a  want  of  consideration,  and  to  the  fact  that  the 
population  has  already  extended  far  beyond  any  calculations 
which  they  could,  with  sobriety,  have  formed  at  its  commence- 
ment. It  is  not  too  late  to  supply  this  omission,  which  interest, 
as  well  as  philanthropy,  most  strongly  dictates. 

Cleanliness,  fresh  air,  and  pure  water,  and  the  opportunity  and 
the  means  of  relaxation  and  innocent  recreation,  are   almost  as 


28  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

essential  to  morals  as  to  health.  No  one  can  doubt,  in  this 
respect,  their  direct  and  beneficial  influence.  The  rich  can  take 
care  of  themselves,  and  can  flee  the  sources  of  pestilence,  and  go 
after  health  and  recreation  Avhere  they  are  to  be  found.  Not  so 
with  the  poorer  and  humbler  classes  in  society,  to  whose  labor 
and  service  the  rich  owe  all  their  wealth  and  many  of  their 
pleasures.  Whoever  goes  into  the  low  places  in  crowded  cities, 
into  the  subterranean  abodes  where  these  wretched  beings  con- 
gregate like  rabbits  in  a  warren,  or,  rather,  like  swine  in  their 
sties,  and  enters  into  the  melancholy  statistics  of  mortality,  in 
such  cases  will  learn  some  measure  of  the  suff'ering  which  is 
here  endured.  In  London,  and  other  places  of  a  similar  char- 
acter, the  presence  of  the  police  and  the  officers  of  the  peace, 
always  in  such  places  in  strong  force,  will  remind  him  that  there 
is  a  connection  not  to  be  overlooked  between  condition  and 
character,  between  destitution  and  crime,  between  outward  filth 
and  impurity  of  mind,  neglect  of  person  and  neglect  of  morals. 
The  most  crowded  parts  of  London  are  the  most  vicious  parts  ; 
and  a  new  should  not  neglect  the  experience  of  an  old  country. 
A  city  without  public  squares  and  public  gardens  should  provide 
them,  and  on  a  most  liberal  scale.  In  a  pecuniary  point  of  view, 
as  rendering  a  residence  in  the  city  the  more  desirable,  and  so 
increasing  the  value  of  estates  in  it,  I  have  no  doubt  that  it 
would  yield  ample  advantages  and  profits.  But  health  and 
morals  are  not  to  be  measured  by  any  pecuniary  standard  ;  and 
where  wholesome  water,  and  fresh  air,  and  light,  and  sunshine, 
and  cleanliness  are  concerned,  no  expense  and  cost  are  to  be  con- 
sidered as  exorbitant.  To  talk  about  the  value  of  land  in  such 
cases,  and  to  place  this  in  competition  with  health,  comfort,  and 
morals,  is  equally  short-sighted  and  inhuman. 

The  public  parks  and  pleasure-grounds  in  London  are  highly 
ornamented  with  shrubs,  plants,  and  flowers,  and  accessible  to 
the  public  for  exercise  and  recreation.  In  St.  James's  Park,  and 
in  some  others,  metallic  labels  are  affixed  to  the  foreign  plants 
and  shrubs,  with  the  botanical  and  the  vulgar  name  of  the  plants 
upon  them,  and  the  class  and  the  country  to  which  they  belong. 
This  is  a  beautiful  arrangement,  and  well  deserving  imitation  ; 
furnishing  instruction,  as  well  as  satisfaction  ;  inciting  to  the 
study  of  botany,  and  opening  a  sealed  book  to  the  unaided  and 
curious  student  of  nature.  Every  one  knows  the  advantage  of 
teaching   by  example  ,*   and   >vhat  an   interest   is  given  to   the 


ORNAMENTAL  SHRUBS  AND  FLOWERS.  29 

objects,  which  the  natural  and  visible  world  presents,  by  the 
associations  which  science  throws  around  them.  This  practice, 
I  found,  prevailed  in  other  public  gardens  and  pleasure-grounds. 
It  was  the  case  in  the  beautiful  and  highly-cultivated  botanical 
garden  in  the  neighborhood  of  Liverpool,  which,  though  created 
and  supported  by  private  subscriptions,  and  for  scientific  pur- 
poses, is  yet  free  of  access  to  the  public  one  or  more  days  in  the 
week.  The  same  is  the  case  with  the  very  tasteful  garden  in 
Sheffield,  a  romantic  and  charming  piece  of  ground,  which, 
though  on  a  small  scale,  combines  many  attractions  ;  and  like- 
wise with  the  Arboretum  at  Derby,  embracing,  I  think,  about 
eleven  acres,  and  formed  into  a  garden  and  pleasure-ground  for 
the  public  recreation.  This  last  is  the  fruit  of  individual  mu- 
nificence. Mr.  Strutt,  an  eminent  manufacturer  at  Derby,  em- 
ployed Mr.  Loudon  —  the  late  distinguished  horticultural  writer 
—  to  lay  out,  plant,  and  ornament  these  grounds,  at  an  expense 
of  ten  thousand  pounds  sterling,  or  fifty  thousand  dollars  ;  and 
then,  with  eminent  liberality,  gave  them  to  the  city  of  Derby 
for  the  public  use  and  enjoyment  of  its  inhabitants.  Tens  of 
thousands  of  pounds  expended  in  the  erection  of  a  Corinthian 
column,  or  a  marble  mausoleum,  would  not  have  formed  so 
durable  or  extended  a  memorial  of  him;  and  thousands  upon 
thousands  yet  unborn,  in  the  enjoyment  of  this  beneficence,  will 
invoke  blessings  upon  his  memory. 


X.  — ORNAMENTAL   SHRUBS   AND   FLOWERS. 

The  cultivation  of  flowers  and  shrubs  is  a  prominent  feature 
in  the  landscape  of  England  ;  and  a  circumstance  which  has 
given  no  little  gratification  to  my  national  pride,  has  been  the 
profusion  of  American  plants,  azalias  and  kalmias,  magnolias  and 
rhododendrons,  and  a  large  variety  of  pines  and  firs,  which  are 
seen  in  the  shrubberies  and  plantations  and  pleasure-grounds, 
both  public  and  private.  A  very  large  establishment  in  London 
is  exclusively  devoted  to  the  sale  of  American  plants ;  and  they 
are  every  where  admired  for  the  splendor  of  their  foliage  and  the 
beauty  of  their  flowers.  Greenhouses  and  conservatories  are 
3* 


30  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

almost  universal  in  the  country,  where  any  thing  like  a  garden 
exists;  and  the  better  class  of  houses  are  surrounded  and  adorned 
with  a  great  variety  of  flowering  shrubs  and  plants,  presenting, 
through  the  season,  a  charming  succession  of  gay  and  brilliant 
ornaments.  Even  the  laborer's  humble  cottage,  ordinarily,  I 
am  compelled  to  admit,  any  thing  but  a  picturesque  object,  will 
occasionally  have  its  flowering  shrubs  adorning  its  door-way,  and 
the  ivy  hanging  its  beautiful  tresses  over  its  window,  forming,  as 
it  were,  a  mirror,  set  in  a  frame  of  the  richest  green.  The  vil- 
lage of  Marr,  in  Yorkshire,  not  far  from  Doncaster,  and  the 
village  of  Edensor,  in  Derbyshire,  near  Chatsworth,  and  the 
village  of  Lord  Brownlow,  in  Lincolnshire,  the  best  built  and 
by  far  the  handsomest  villages  I  have  yet  seen  in  England,  to 
cottages  of  an  excellent  and  tasteful  construction,  monuments  of 
the  liberality  of  their  proprietors,  add  these  beautiful  rural  embel- 
lishments of  shrubs  and  flowers,  and  compel  a  reflecting  mind  to 
admit  the  moral  influence  of  such  arrangements  upon  the  char- 
acter and  manners  of  their  inhabitants.  Churches  and  ruins, 
likewise,  are  often  seen  spread  over  with  the  richest  mantlings 
of  ivy  ;  and,  among  many  others,  the  venerable  and  magnificent 
remains  of  Hardwicke  Hall,  for  example,  are  covered,  I  may 
say,  in  the  season  of  its  flowering,  with  a  gorgeous  robe  of  it, 
matting  its  sides  with  indescribable  luxuriance,  climbing  its 
lofty  battlements,  and  fringing  its  empty  windows  and  broken 
arches,  as  though  Nature  would  make  the  pall  of  death  exqui- 
sitely beautiful  and  splendid,  that  she  might  conceal  the  hideous- 
ness  of  decay,  and  shut  from  the  sight  of  frail  mortals  these 
aff"ecting  monuments  of  the  vanity  of  human  grandeur  and  pride. 

I  have  said  and  written  a  great  deal  to  my  countrymen  about 
the  cultivation  of  flowers,  ornamental  gardening,  and  rural  em- 
bellishments ;  and  I  would  read  them  a  homily  on  the  subject 
every  day  of  every  remaining  year  of  my  life,  if  I  thought  it 
would  have  the  eflect  which  I  desire,  of  inducing  them  to  make 
this  matter  of  particular  attention  and  care.  When  any  man 
asks  me  what  is  the  use  of  shrubs  and  flowers,  my  first  impulse 
always  is,  to  look  under  his  hat  and  see  the  length  of  his  ears. 
I  am  heartily  sick  of  measuring  every  thing  by  a  standard  of 
mere  utility  and  profit;  and  as  heartily  do  I  pity  the  man  who 
can  see  no  good  in  life  but  in  pecuniary  gain,  or  in  the  mere 
animal  indulgences  of  eating  and  drinking. 

The  establishment  of  horticultural  societies  in  Salem,  Boston, 


CLIMATE    OF    ENGLAND.  31 

Worcester,  New  Haven,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia, — and  I 
speak  of  these  societies  in  particular  because  I  have  attended  the 
exhibitions  of  most  of  them, — has  rendered  an  immense  benefit 
to  the  country,  not  merely  in  the  introduction  of  new  and  vahiable 
fruits  and  vegetables,  and  in  what  they  have  done  to  improve 
and  perfect  the  cultivation  of  those  long  known  among  us,  but 
in  the  improvement  of  the  public  taste,  and  the  powerful  stimu- 
lus they  have  given  to  the  cultivation  of  flowers  and  the  forma- 
tion of  gardens  and  ornamental  grounds  throughout  the  country. 
Few  countries  in  temperate  latitudes  are  richer  in  the  floral 
kingdom  of  nature,  and  the  luxuriance  of  vegetable  growth  and 
the  splendors  of  vegetable  beauty,  than  the  United  States. 
Why  should  not  flowers  be  cultivated  ?  Was  the  human  eye, 
that  wonder  of  wonders,  that  matchless  organ  of  our  physical 
constitution,  that  inexhaustible  instrument  of  exalted  and  varied 
pleasures,  made  in  vain  ?  Are  the  forms  of  beauty  in  the  natu- 
ral world,  infinitely  multiplied  as  they  are  around  us,  made  for 
any  other  purpose  than  to  be  enjoyed  ?  And  what  better  means 
can  we  take  to  strengthen  the  domestic  affections,  of  all  others 
the  most  favorable  to  virtue,  than  to  render  our  homes  as  beauti- 
ful and  as  attractive  as  possible  ?  Who  does  not  see  constantly 
the  influence  of  external  circumstances  upon  character  as  well  as 
comfort ;  and  perceive  how  greatly  order,  exactness,  and  personal 
neatness  contribute  to  form  and  strengthen  the  sense  of  moral 
exactness  and  propriety  ? 

The  horticultural  establishments  of  England,  their  vegetable 
gardens,  their  flower  gardens,  their  shrubberies  and  plantations, 
their  greenhouses  and  conservatories,  are  upon  the  most  exten- 
sive scale. 


XL  — CLIMATE  OF   ENGLAND. 

Another  marked  difference  in  the  agricultural  condition  of 
England  and  the  northern  portion  of  the  United  States,  is  in  the 
climate.  1  cannot  speak  with  any  confidence  of  Scotland,  but 
the  climate  of  England  must  be  pronounced  highly  temperate. 
It  is  favorable  to  the  growth  and  the  constant  vigor  and  freshness 
of  the  grasses.     It   is  not  only  temperate,  but  moist.     The  last 


32  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

season  may  have  been  peculiar.  I  landed  in  Liverpool  near  the 
end  of  April ;  and  there  was  more  or  less  rain  for  forty-six  days 
in  succession,  until  I  became  quite  satisfied  that  an  umbrella  was 
as  necessary  as  a  hat.  When  the  clear  weather  finally  set  in, 
we  had  two  months,  or  more,  of  as  fine  weather  for  harvesting 
as  I  ever  knew,  with  scarcely  the  intervention  of  a  day's  rain  ; 
yet  there  was  nothing  of  the  parching  heat  of  our  summers,  and 
I  saw  no  land  burnt  up  by  drought.  It  is  now  December,  and  I 
have  scarcely  seen  any  ice,  and  not  a  flake  of  snow ;  and  there 
is  no  frost  in  the  ground.  Many  persons  speak  of  this  as  the 
usual  temperature,  and  say  that  the  cold  weather  does  not  com- 
mence until  after  Christmas.  The  dews  appear  to  me  very  light, 
owing,  as  I  suppose,  to  the  mildness  of  the  days  ;  and  there  have 
been  none  of  those  blowing  clouds  of  dust  with  which  our  air  is 
often  charged,  and  which,  with  us,  after  long  droughts,  are  very 
disagreeable.  Of  thunder  and  lightning  this  season  I  am  unable 
to  recall  a  single  instance ;  and  at  no  time  of  the  day  has  the 
heat  been  in  the  slightest  degree  oppressive.* 

Their  insular  situation  exposes  them  to  frequent  and  dense 
fogs,  which  interpose  to  prevent  the  earth  being  ever  parched  by 
drought ;  and  the  rains  to  which  they  are  subject  keep  the  earth, 
where  it  is  of  a  retentive  character,  much  soaked  with  water, 
and  preserve  an  almost  perpetual  greenness  of  vegetation. 

In  many  parts  of  England,  the  crops  of  turnips  are  never  pulled 
until  they  are  wanted  for  feeding  in  the  course  of  the  winter ;  in 
other  places,  they  require  a  very  slight  covering  to  protect  them 
from  the  frost.  In  most  cases,  sheep  do  not  require  to  be  housed ; 
and  in  some  cases,  neat  cattle  get  their  chief  living  in  the  fields 
through  a  great  part  of  the  winter,  though  I  cannot  but  regard 
this  practice  as  very  bad  husbandry.  Ploughing  appears  to  be 
seldom  interrupted  for  any  length  of  time  ;  and  wheat  is  sown 


*  The  annual  average  depth  of  rain  in  England  is  about  two  feet.  In  1840, 
for  instance,  the  depth  at  Aberdeen  was  24.627  inches  ;  at  Empingham,  18.58  ; 
Epping,  20.767;  Falmouth,  31.511;  Gosport,  25.525 ;  Greenwich,  18.24 ;  York, 
24.72  inches.  That  is  perhaps  not  much  below  the  average  of  the  continent  of 
Europe.  Some  portions  of  Western  Europe,  however,  are  exceedingly  wet ;  123 
inches  have  been  noted  to  fall  at  Coimbra,  in  Portugal,  in  a  year.  The  fill  of 
rain  is  still  greater  in  the  West  Indies.  At  St.  Domingo,  120  inches ;  at  Cay- 
enne, 116  inches  ;  at  Maranham,  277  inches.  So  that  even  under  the  equator,  a 
sufficient  supply  of  rain  water  can  be  obtained  for  the  service  of  the  inhabitants. 
—  Farmer's  Almanac. 


CLIMATE    OF    ENGLAND.  33 

from  October  to  April.  In  parts  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  and  the  states  south,  the  farmers  enjoy  similar  advan- 
tages of  a  mild  temperature ;  but  north  of  these,  the  despotism 
of  frost  and  snow  commences,  and  holds  undisputed  sway  for 
four  months  in  the  year.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this,  our  seasons 
are  quite  long  enough  for  the  perfect  ripening  of  all  the  crops 
grown  among  us;  and,  with  a  little  extra  labor,  even  the  valua- 
ble green  crops,  which  here  play  so  important  a  part  in  the  feed* 
ing  of  stock  and  the  enriching  of  the  land,  might,  if  deemed 
expedient,  be  raised  and  used  among  us.  Of  this,  however,  I 
shall  speak  hereafter.  These  remarks  apply  only  to  what  has 
come  under  my  own  personal  observation  ;  and  I  can  be  said  to 
have  seen,  as  yet,  only  a  small  part  of  England.  The  winter 
management  of  farms  here  is  a  matter  of  as  much  importance  as 
the  summer  husbandry,  and  will  claim  my  particular  attention. 
The  disposal  of  the  produce,  the  fattening  of  animals,  the  breeds 
or  kinds  of  live  stock  most  likely  to  make  a  good  return  to  the 
farmer,  and  the  whole  management  of  the  manure  yards,  are 
subjects  in  relation  to  which  much  useful  instruction  is  to  be 
obtained. 

It  would  seem  as  though  a  country  with  so  rough  and  severe 
a  climate  as  New  England,  and  with  such  long  winters  as  prevail 
there,  which,  for  more  than  a  third  part  of  the  year,  interrupt 
entirely  all  the  out-door  operations  of  husbandry,  must  be  ex- 
ceedingly unfriendly  to  agriculture,  compared  with  one  where 
the  winters  are  open  and  field-labor  is  practicable  through  the 
whole  of  the  year.  This  is,  indeed,  the  case  ,*  yet  there  are 
some  compensations  for  these  privations  and  disadvantages, 
which  in  New  England  are  duly  appreciated,  as  the  winter,  when 
labor  is  to  a  great  degree  suspended,  is  the  special  season  for  the 
education  of  the  young  ;  for  reading  and  mental  improvement, 
and  for  the  most  friendly  and  social  intercourse.  If  these  cir- 
cumstances may  be  thought  to  have  no  connection  with  agricul- 
ture, strictly  so  called,  yet  they  are  certainly  to  be  considered  in 
reference  to  the  condition  of  the  agricultural  population ;  and  in 
every  circumstance  which  renders  their  condition  more  comfort- 
able and  happy,  and,  above  all,  which  advances  their  intelli- 
gence, we  may  ordinarily  look  for  a  corresponding  improvement 
in  their  cultivation  and  rural  husbandry.  A  New  England  village 
resembles,  to  a  great  degree,  a  united  and  happy  family,  where 
perfect  equality   prevails  ;  where  a  friendly  sympathy  is  every 


34  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

where  active  and  strong  ;  and  where  all  seem  bound  to  con- 
tribute, according  to  their  power,  to  the  general  welfare,  comfort, 
and  improvement.  Society  exists  in  the  United  States  under 
circumstances  so  entirely  different  from  those  in  which  it  is  found 
here,  that  a  comparison  can  hardly  be  instituted  between  them. 
The  intercourse  to  which  I  have  here  referred,  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  exist  in  England  ;  the  general  character  of  the  laboring 
population  being  not  many  removes,  as  far  as  intellectual  im- 
provement is  concerned,  above  that  of  the  other  animals  which 
cultivate  their  fields. 

In  several  respects,  it  must  be  admitted,  the  mild  temperature 
of  the  English  climate  affords  singular  advantages.  The  wintes 
season  furnishes  the  best  opportunity  for  draining  and  ditching  ; 
the  active  operations  of  the  farm  being,  in  a  degree,  suspended, 
labor  is  obtained  at  a  low  rate ;  and  as  a  great  portion  of  field 
work,  in  England,  is  done  by  the  piece  instead  of  the  day,  the 
shortness  of  the  days  makes  no  difference  of  expense  to  the 
employer. 


XII.  — AGRICULTURAL  POPULATION. 

I  have  referred  to  some  differences  in  the  condition  of  society 
here,  and  in  the  United  States,  and  those  differences  it  may  be 
well  to  understand.  The  agricultural  population  in  England  is 
divided  into  three  classes  —  the  landlord,  the  tenant  farmer  or 
occupier,  and  the  laborer. 

1.  The  Landlords  ;  Rents  ;  and  Taxes.  —  The  landlord 
is  the  owner  of  the  soil.  Most  of  the  landlords  are  noblemen  or 
gentlemen,  and  are  looked  up  to  with  a  deference  and  veneration, 
on  account  of  their  rank,  with  which  those  of  us  who  have  been 
educated  in  a  condition  of  society  where  titles  and  ranks  are 
unknown,  find  it  difficult  to  sympathize.  They  own  the  land. 
Some  few  of  them  keep  portions  of  their  vast  territories  in  their 
own  occupation,  and  under  their  own  management ;  but,  by 
most  of  them,  their  lands  are  leased  in  farms  of  diff'erent  sizes, 
seldom  less  than  three  or  four  hundred  acres,  and  in  many  cases 
eight  hundred,  a  thousand,  and  twelve  hundred  acres.  The  rent 
of  land  varies  in  diff'erent  places ;  in  some  being  as  low  as  five 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  35 

shillings  ;  in  others  rising  to  almost  as  many  pounds.  Rents  are 
in  general  paid  in  money.  Sometimes  they  are  valued  in  kind ; 
that  is,  the  tenant  engaging  to  pay  so  many  bushels  of  wheat,  or 
so  many  bushels  of  barley,  or  such  amount  of  other  products  ; 
but  in  these  cases,  also,  the  landlord  usually  receives  his  rent  in 
money  according  to  the  current  prices  of  these  articles.  The 
rents  are  paid  in  semi-annual  payments.  The  fair  rent  of  land 
is  sometimes  estimated  at  a  third  of  its  products ;  by  some,  a 
different  rule  is  adopted,  which  is,  after  all  the  expenses  of  culti- 
vation and  the  usual  assessments  are  deducted  from  the  gross 
proceeds,  that  the  balance  remaining  should  be  divided  equally 
between  the  landlord  and  the  tenant.  In  general,  however,  as 
far  as  my  observation  has  extended,  the  rate  of  rent  is  not  deter- 
mined by  any  particular  rule,  other  than  that  which  prevails  in 
most  commercial  transactions,  that  each  party  makes  the  best  bar- 
gain for  himself  that  he  is  able.  It  is  only  just  to  add  that  in  all 
the  cases,  without  exception,  which  have  come  under  my  remark, 
there  has  seemed  to  me,  on  the  part  of  the  landlords,  a  fair  measure 
of  liberality ;  the  rents  in  general  bearing  a  small  proportion  to 
the  legal  interest  of  the  money  at  which  the  lands  are  valued,  and 
for  which  they  could  be  sold  at  once ;  lands  costing  £60  sterling, 
or  300  dollars  per  acre,  being  frequently  let  for  30s.  or  £2  ster- 
ling per  acre,  that  is,  less  than  eight  or  ten  dollars  per  acre.  We 
are  not  well  satisfied  in  the  United  States  with  a  return  from 
our  land  under  five  or  six  per  cent,  on  its  cost ;  but  the  landlords 
here  seldom  obtain  more  than  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  or  three 
per  cent,  on  the  price  which  the  land  would  command,  if  brought 
into  the  market.  The  low  rents  which  are  obtained  show  the 
abundance  of  wealth,  and  how  greatly  an  investment  in  land  is 
valued  for  its  security;  and  the  active  competition  for  leases, 
which  appears  in  almost  every  part  of  the  country  when  farms 
are  to  be  let,  seems  to  imply  that  the  rents  are  reasonable,  and, 
more  than  that,  liberal.  As  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  put  down  my 
impressions  of  the  country,  of  men  and  things,  with  the  utmost 
frankness,  avoiding  all  personalities,  I  must  say  that  there  has 
appeared  to  me  on  the  part  of  the  landowners,  with  many  of 
whom,  among  the  largest  in  the  country,  I  have  had  the  pleasure 
of  becoming. acquainted,  the  most  marked  liberality  in  the  man- 
agement of  their  great  estates,  both  in  the  terms  and  continuance 
of  their  leases,  and  in  the  aid  rendered  to  their  tenants  in  making 
improvements.     The  liberality  and  amount  of  the  expenditures 


36 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


indeed  strike  an  American  with  astonishment.  In  the  United 
States,  and  especially  in  the  northern  parts  of  it,  where  there  is 
a  constant  struggle  to  live,  where  men  have  to  contend  with  a 
severe  climate  and  a  stubborn  soil,  and  where  money  is  compara- 
tively scarce,  the  accumulations  small,  and  the  farms  extremely 
limited,  and  where  the  first  lesson  taught  to  a  child,  even  in 
his  swaddling  clothes,  is  a  lesson  of  self-dependence,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  men  should  be  compelled  with  extreme  care  to 
husband  their  small  means,  and  that  a  frugality,  in  itself  highly 
commendable,  should  sometimes  verge  withia  the  limits  of  mean- 
ness. This,  indeed,  is  far  better  than  that  reckless  expenditure, 
without  regard  to  one's  means,  which  we  sometimes  see,  and 
which  is  almost  sure  to  involve  the  individual  who  indulges  in 
it  in  irretrievable  debt  and  ruin.  But  there  cannot  be  a  doubt 
that  in  New  England  we  often  commit  a  great  error  in  withhold- 
ing a  reasonable  expenditure  in  the  improvement  of  our  lands ; 
and  that  we  are  not  sufficiently  impressed  with  the  obvious  truth, 
that  a  proper  expenditure  of  capital  is  as  important  to  a  success- 
ful and  improved  agriculture,  as  to  the  successful  prosecution  of 
any  branch  of  manufactures,  trade,  or  commerce. 

Leases  may  be  annual,  or  at  will,  or  for  a  term  of  years.  When 
land  is  taken  by  the  year,  it  is  understood  that  the  tenant  has  six 
months'  notice  of  the  intention  of  the  landlord  not  to  renew  his 
lease,  if  such  intention  exist.  The  lands  in  England  are  bur- 
dened with  taxes  from  which  the  United  States  are  free.  These, 
in  many  cases,  amount  to  a  sum  equal  to  the  rent  of  the  land. 
The  tithes,  or  tenth  of  every  article  produced,  are  not  now  taken 
in  kind,  but  are  commuted  and  paid  in  money.  The  poor  and 
parochial  rates  are  often  heavy  ;  these  all  are  paid  by  the  tenant, 
unless  a  special  agreement  is  made  to  the  contrary. 

Some  persons  are  disposed  to  question  the  right  of  individuals 
to  such  extensive  tracts  of  land,  which,  in  many  instances,  they 
neither  cultivate  themselves,  nor  suffer  others  to  cultivate,  and 
which  descend  undiminished  through  successive  generations  in 
the  same  family.  The  legal  or  constitutional  right  is  determined 
by  statute ;  upon  the  moral  right,  or  the  right  founded  upon  prin- 
ciples of  political  justice,  I  am  not  disposed  to  enter,  as  this 
would  lead  me  to  discuss  the  foundations  of  all  property  —  a  sub- 
ject foreign  from  my  purpose.  The  tithe  system,  as  it  exists 
here,  strikes  a  foreign  and  unpractised  eye  as  a  singular  feature  in 
the  condition  of  things.     A  tithe,  or  tenth  part  of  the  produce 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  37 

of  the  land,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Levitical  law  in 
respect  to  the  Jewish  priesthood,  was  taken  for  the  support  of 
the  estabhshed  religion  ;  and  the  priests  and  clergy  of  the  differ- 
ent parishes  were  accustomed  to  levy  it  in  kind,  and  to  exact  it 
to  the  extremity  of  every  tenth  portion  of  the  honey  made  by 
bees  in  the  farmer's  hives,  every  tenth  chicken  in  the  good 
wife's  poultry-yard,  and  every  tenth  egg  laid  by  her  fowls.  In- 
deed, the  monks,  if  reports  be  true,  had  always  a  remarkably 
keen  appetite  for  honey,  and  poultry,  and  eggs.  By  one  of  the 
kings  of  England,  the  possessions  of  the  church  were  seized  and 
confiscated  ,•  and  the  right  of  claiming  tithes,  in  many  parishes 
or  districts,  was  given  to  his  friends,  reserving  a  very  small  por- 
tion for  the  support  of  the  clergy.  A  great  portion  of  the  tithes 
are  now,  therefore,  held  by  laymen ;  and  in  some  parishes,  for 
example,  where  the  tithes  amount  to  several  thousand  pounds, 
the  clergyman  gets  only  as  many  hundreds ;  and  the  tithes  of 
any  particular  parish  or  place,  or  rather  the  right  to  enforce  and 
receive  them,  is  as  much  a  matter  of  sale  or  traffic  as  the  land 
itself.  It  is  not  for  me  to  quarrel  with  the  institutions  of  a 
country  of  which  I  am  neither  citizen  nor  subject ;  but  it  is 
obwous  that  every  burden  upon  the  land  must,  to  a  degree, 
operate  to  the  prejudice  of  agriculture ;  and  the  matter  of  levy- 
ing a  tax  originally  intended  exclusively  for  the  support  of 
religious  institutions,  after  it  has  long  since  avowedly  ceased  to 
be  applied  in  any  form  to  that  object,  is  an  affair  for  those  to 
consider  who  are  especially  affected  by  it.  I  have  not  deemed  it 
necessary  to  inquire  into  the  amount  paid  in  this  way,  Avhich 
varies  considerably  in  different  places ;  but  the  amount  stated  to 
me  by  one  farmer,  the  occupier  of  250  acres  of  land,  and  whose 
rent  is  £370,  is  at  least  £60  sterling  (or  300  dollars)  per  year  in 
parochial  rates,  including  all  but  specific  taxes.  The  poor-rates 
are  in  many  cases  extremely  burdensome  upon  the  land,  the 
wages  of  the  laborers  being  in  general  so  limited  as  not  to  admit, 
but  in  rare  cases,  of  their  laying  aside  any  of  their  earnings  for 
old  age,  or  seasons  of  sickness  and  calamity.  The  support  of 
the  poor  formerly  rested,  in  a  great  measure,  upon  the  religious 
houses,  which  were  very  largely  endowed  with  lands  and  posses- 
sions for  this  very  object  ;  but  when  these  houses  were  broken 
up  and  the  property  taken  by  the  state,  this  burden  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  backs  of  the  landholders  or  occupiers.  The  indi- 
vidual possessions  of  the  landowners  are  sometimes  enormous, 
4 


38  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

amounting  in  many  cases  to  scores  of  thousands  of  acres,  and  in 
one  instance  within  my  knowledge,  to  seventy-five  thousand 
acres  ;  and  in  another,  I  believe,  to  more  than  a  million  acres. 

2.  The  Farmers.  —  Next  come  the  farmers,  who  lease  the 
land  of  the  landowners.  These  men  are  not  like  farmers  in  the 
United  States,  who  themselves  labor  in  the  field  ;  they  rarely  do 
any  personal  labor  whatever.  They  are,  in  general,  a  substan- 
tial and  well-informed  body  of  men  ,•  and  many  of  them  live  in 
a  style  of  elegance  and  fashion.  Many  of  them  are  persons  of 
considerable  property,  as  indeed  they  must  be  in  order  to  manage 
the  farms  which  they  undertake.  The  capital  necessary  to 
manage  a  stock  or  an  arable  farm  must  be  always  estimated  at 
double  or  treble  the  amount  of  rent ;  and,  in  general,  cannot  be 
set  down  at  less  than  £10  sterling,  or  50  dollars,  per  acre.  The 
stock  required  for  a  grazing  is,  of  course,  much  more  than  for  an 
arable  farm  ;  but  in  no  case  can  success  be  looked  for  without 
ample  means  of  outlay.  In  no  respect  does  the  agriculture  of 
England  differ  more  from  that  of  the  United  States,  especially 
from  that  of  the  Northern  States,  than  in  regard  to  capital.  Our 
farmers,  in  general,  have  little  floating  capital.  They  attempt 
to  get  along  with  the  least  possible  expenditure.  Under  such 
circumstances,  they  operate  to  very  great  disadvantage.  They  can 
never  wait  for  a  market.  They  cannot  bring  out  the  capabilities 
of  their  farms;  and  the  results  of  their  farming  are  consequently 
limited  and  meagre.  The  difference  between  a  new  country 
contending,  as  it  were,  for  existence,  and  an  old  country  operat- 
ing with  the  accumulations  of  years  and  centuries,  is  most  sensi- 
bly marked  ;  the  expenses  incurred  on  some  farms  in  England 
solely  for  manures  purchased,  exceeding  thousands  of  pounds 
sterling,  and  the  cost  merely  of  grass  seeds,  are  perfectly  surpris- 
ing to  an  American  farmer ;  yet  experience  has  demonstrated 
that,  in  these  cases,  the  most  liberal  outlay  of  capital  is  the  most 
sure  to  be  followed  by  successful  results. 

The  farmers  in  England,  as  far  as  I  have  had  the  pleasure  to 
meet  with  them,  are  a  well-informed  set  of  men,  especially  on 
subjects  connected  with  their  particular  pursuits.  There,  of 
course,  is  the  variety  among  them  which  is  to  be  found  in  other 
classes ;  but  their  manners,  without  exception,  are  courteous  and 
agreeable,  their  hospitality  distinguished,  and  their  housekeeping 
—  and  I  speak  with  the  authority  of  a  connoisseur  in  these  mat- 
ters—  is  admirable.     Indeed,  it  has  not  yet  been  my  misfortune 


I 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  39 

to  meet,  in  England  or  Scotland,  with  a  single  instance  of  negli- 
gence in  any  private  house  which  I  have  visited ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  most  exemplary  neatness.  I  cannot  say  as  much 
of  all  the  hotels  or  taverns  in  the  country,  many  of  which  are 
far  inferior  in  all  respects,  and  none  of  them  superior  in  any,  to 
our  best  hotels.  There  is  one  circumstance  in  English  manners 
so  much  to  the  credit  of  their  housekeeping,  that  I  shall,  for  the 
best  of  reasons,  venture  to  remind  my  American  friends  of  it, 
although  I  fear  that  any  reformation  in  the  case  is  hopeless.  In 
no  private  house  which  I  have  visited  have  I  been  smothered  or 
offended  with  tobacco  smoke  ;  and  I  have  seen  the  offensive  and 
useless  habit  of  chewing  tobacco  since  I  came  to  England  in  but 
one  solitary  instance,  and  that  was  on  the  part  of  an  American. 
At  public  dinners,  the  same  reserve  is  not  practised,  and  the 
atmosphere  becomes  as  thick  as  a  London  fog.  I  will  not  inter- 
fere with  any  gentleman's  private  pleasures ;  but  I  will  lose  no 
fair  opportunity  of  protesting  against  a  practice  which  has  little 
to  recommend  it,  and  in  respect  to  which  I  think  we  have  good 
grounds  to  ask,  What  right  has  any  man  to  indulge  in  any 
mere  personal  or  selfish  gratification,  in-doors  or  without,  at  the 
expense  of  his  neighbor's  comfort  ?  I  know  very  well  the  value 
to  my  own  country,  as  a  branch  of  agriculture,  of  the  produc- 
tion of  tobacco ;  but  I  cannot  look  upon  its  cultivation  with 
much  complacency.  Nor  does  the  exhausted  condition  of  the 
soil,  where  tobacco  has  been  some  time  cultivated,  reconcile  me 
to  its  culture.  Indeed,  how  much  were  it  to  be  wished  that 
instead  of  the  production  of  an  article  useless  for  subsistence  and 
pernicious  to  health,  there  could  be  substituted  the  cultivation 
of  plants  for  the  food  and  comfort  of  millions  now  suffering  from 
the  want  of  them ! 

3.  The  Agricultural  Laborers.  —  Next  to  the  farmers  come 
the  laborers  ;  and  these  three  classes  preserve  the  lines  of  distinc- 
tion among  them  with  as  much  caution  and  strictness,  as  they 
preserve  the  lines  and  boundaries  of  their  estates.  These  dis- 
tinctions strike  a  visitor  from  the  United  States  with  much 
force;  but,  in  England,  they  have  been  so  long  established  — 
are  so  interwoven  in  the  texture  of  society  —  and  men  are,  by 
education  and  habit,  so  trained  in  them,  that  their  propriety  or 
expediency  is  never  matter  of  question.  The  nobleman  will 
sometimes,  as  an  act  of  courtesy  and  kindness,  invite  his  tenant- 
farmer  to  his  table  ;  but  such  a  visit  is  never  expected  to  be 


40  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

returned.  The  farmer  would  under  no  circumstances  invite  the 
laborer  to  his  table,  or  visit  him  as  a  friend  or  neighbor.  I  do 
not  mean  to  imply  that  there  is,  on  the  part  of  the  higher  classes 
of  society  in  England,  any  insolence  or  arrogance  in  their  treat- 
ment of  their  inferiors.  Free  as  my  intercourse  has  been  with 
the  highest  and  the  middle  classes,  I  have  seen  no  instance  of 
this,  nor  any  thing  approaching  it,  but  the  contrary  ;  and  the 
best  bred  men  in  the  country  —  the  true  gentlemen — are  dis- 
tinguished by  their  courtesy  and  the  absence  of  all  ostentatious 
pretensions.  While  they  naturally  fall  into  the  orbit,  in  which 
birth,  education,  and  the  political  institutions  of  the  country 
have  accustomed  them  to  revolve,  the  well-principled  among 
them  would,  I  am  sure,  be  the  last  persons,  by  any  assumptions, 
voluntarily  to  mortify  one  below  them  with  a  sense  of  his 
inferiority. 

The  farm  laborers  are,  I  will  not  say  in  a  degraded  condition, 
for  that  would  not,  in  any  sense,  apply  to  them,  unless  where, 
by  their  own  bad  habits,  they  may  have  degraded  themselves  ; 
but  they  are  in  a  very  low  condition,  and  extremely  ignorant  and 
servile.  They  rarely,  as  with  us,  live  in  the  house  of  their 
employers,  but  either  in  cottages  on  the  farm  or  in  a  neighboring 
village.  They  are,  usually,  comfortably  clad,  in  this  respect 
contrasting  most  favorably  with  the  mechanics  and  manufac- 
turers in  the  cities  and  large  towns ;  but  they  are,  in  general, 
very  poorly  fed.  Their  wages,  compared  with  the  wages  of 
labor  in  the  United  States,  are  very  low.  The  cash  wages  paid 
to  them  seldom  equals  the  cash  wages  paid  to  laborers  with  us, 
and  our  laborers,  in  addition  to  their  wages  in  money,  have  their 
board  ;  but  the  English  laborers  are  obliged  to  subsist  themselves, 
with  an  occasional  allowance,  in  some  instances,  of  beer,  in  hay- 
ing or  harvesting.  The  division  of  labor  among  them  is  quite 
particular — a  ploughman  being  always  a  ploughman,  and  almost 
inseparable  from  his  horses ;  a  ditcher,  a  ditcher  ,•  a  shepherd,  a 
shepherd  only :  the  consequence  of  this  is  that  what  they  do, 
they  do  extremely  well.  Their  ploughing,  sowing,  drilling,  and 
ditching  or  draining,  are  executed  with  an  admirable  neatness 
and  exactness ;  indeed,  the  lines  of  their  work  could  not  be  more 
true  and  straight  than  they  usually  are,  if  they  were  measured 
with  a  marked  scale,  inch  by  inch.  They  speak  of  ploughing 
and  drilling  or  ridging  by  the  inch  or  the  half  inch  ;  and  the 
width  of  the  furrow  slice,  or  the  depth  of  the  furrow,  or  the  dis- 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  s  41 

tances  of  the  drills  from  each  other,  will  be  found  to  correspond, 
with  remarkable  precision,  to  the  measurement  designed.  But 
they  appear  totally  destitute  of  invention,  and  have,  evidently, 
little  skill  or  ingenuity  when  called  upon  to  apply  themselves  to 
a  work  different  from  that  to  which  they  have  been  accustomed. 
Their  gait  is  very  slow ;  and  they  seem,  to  me,  to  grow  old 
quite  early.  The  former  circumstance  explained  itself  to  me 
when  I  examined  and  lifted  the  shoes  which  they  are  accustomed 
to  wear,  and  which,  when,  in  addition  to  being  well  charged 
with  iron,  they  gather  the  usual  amount  of  clay  which  adheres 
to  them  in  heavy  soils,  furnish  at  least  some  reason  why,  like  an 
Alexandrine  verse,  'Hhey  drag  their  slow  length  along."  There 
are  occasional  instances  of  extraordinarily  good  management 
where  they  are  enabled  to  accumulate  small  sums ;  but  in  no 
case,  under  the  best  exertions,  can  they  make,  from  the  wages 
of  labor,  any  thing  like  a  provision  for  their  old  age  and  decay. 

They  are  little  given  to  change  situations,  and  many  of  them, 
both  men  and  women,  live  and  die  in  the  same  service.  Several 
instances  have  come  under  my  observation  of  thirty,  thirty-five, 
and  forty  years'  reputable  service  ;  and  many  where  persons,  even 
upon  the  most  limited  means,  have  brought  up  large  families  of 
children  without  any  parochial  assistance.  But,  in  this  case, 
they  are  all  workers ;  the  children  are  put  to  some  sort  of  service 
as  soon  as  they  are  able  to  drive  the  rooks  from  the  corn,  and  no 
drones  are  suffered  in  the  hive.  I  visited  one  laborer's  cottage, 
to  which  I  was  carried  by  the  farmer  himself,  who  was  desirous 
of  showing  me,  as  he  said,  one  of  the  best  examples,  within  his 
knowledge,  of  that  condition  of  life.  The  house,  though  very 
small,  was  extremely  neat  and  tidy ;  the  Bible  lay  upon  the 
shelf  without  an  unbroken  cobweb  over  its  covers  ;  the  dressers 
were  covered  with  an  unusual  quantity  of  crockery,  sufficient  to 
furnish  a  table  for  a  large  party  —  a  kind  of  accumulation  which. 
I  was  told,  was  very  common ;  and  their  pardonable  vanity  runs 
in  this  way,  as,  in  higher  conditions  of  life,  we  see  the  same 
passion  exhibiting  itself  in  the  accumulation  of  family  plate. 
The  man  and  woman  were  laborers,  greatly  esteemed  for  their 
good  conduct,  and  had  both  of  them  been  in  the  same  service 
more  than  forty  years.  I  asked  them  if,  in  the  course  of  that 
time,  they  had  not  been  able  to  lay  by  some  small  store  of  money 
to  make  them  comfortable  in  their  old  age.  I  could  not  have 
4* 


42  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

surprised  them  more  by  any  question  which  I  could  have  pro- 
posed. They  replied,  that  it  had  been  a  constant  struggle  for 
them  to  sustain  themselves,  but  any  surplus  was  beyond  their 
reach.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  condition  is  a  hard  one 
in  which  incessant  and  faithful  labor,  for  so  many  years,  will  not 
enable  the  frugal  and  industrious  to  make  some  small  provision 
for  the  period  of  helplessness  and  decay,  in  a  country  where  the 
accumulations  of  wealth  in  some  hands,  growing  out  of  this  same 
labor,  are  enormous. 

To  the  honor  of  several  proprietors,  the  kindest  provision  is 
made  for  the  decayed  and  superannuated.  In  some  cases,  the 
wages  of  the  laborers  are  continued  to  the  end  of  life  ;  and  in 
some,  as  I  saw  with  great  pleasure,  comfortable  cottages  are  pro- 
vided for  the  old  and  infirm  :  they  have  their  rent  and  fuel  with- 
out charge,  and  a  regular  stipend  as  long  as  they  live.  This  was 
the  case  at  the  seat  of  the  late  distinguished  farmer,  the  Earl  of 
Leicester,  formerly  Mr.  Coke  ;  and  likewise  on  the  estates  of  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire,  where  even  the  old  schoolmaster  of  the  vil- 
lage is  pensioned,  and  has  a  house  and  a  liberal  allowance  pro- 
vided for  him.  Several  other  instances  have  come  under  my 
observation,  where  the  superannuated  and  decayed  laborers  were 
kindly  provided  for  and  received  a  pension  adequate  to  their 
comfortable  support.  This  is  as  it  should  be.  In  every  just 
community  the  rights  of  honest  labor  ought  to  be  respected  and 
secured.  I  confess  it  would  be  far  better  for  them  to  be  able  to 
provide  for  themselves  than  to  be  dependent  upon  the  precarious 
bounty  either  of  individuals  or  the  public ;  but  I  should  be  un- 
willing to  overlook  any  act  of  justice  or  honor.  It  is  obvious 
that  the  prospect  of  a  supply  from  the  bounty  of  the  landlord 
can  only  apply  to  those  who  are  in  the  direct  employment  of  the 
landlord,  and  not  to  those  who  serve  the  tenant  farmer,  whose 
situation  and  permanency,  where  the  lease  of  the  farm  is  only 
for  the  year,  are  always,  to  a  degree,  doubtful. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  those  who  labor  with  us  are  alto- 
gether a  superior  class  of  men  to  the  English  laborers ;  I  refer, 
of  course,  to  the  natives  of  the  country.  A  considerable  portion 
of  our  labor  is  now  performed  by  foreigners,  v/ho,  when  they 
unite  sobriety  and  frugality  with  faithful  industry,  are  sure  of 
good  treatment  and  success ;  indeed,  I  have  known  several 
instances  of  laboring  men,  and  some  of  them  in  my  own  employ- 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  43 

ment,  who,  by  good  conduct,  have  supported  themselves,  and 
have  accumulated,  after  a  few  years'  service,  their  four  and  five 
hundred  dollars  and  upwards,  that  is,  their  eighty  and  their  hun- 
dred pounds  —  an  acquisition  which,  in  England,  a  laboring  man 
would  not  dream  of  as  the  result  of  his  labor,  sooner  than  he 
would  dream  of  receiving  a  pension  of  the  same  amount  from 
the  government.  With  us  the  laborer  is  vastly  better  paid  than 
in  England.  With  us  the  laborer  always  is,  or  always  may  be, 
the  owner  of  the  house  in  which  he  lives,  and  of  as  much  land 
as  he  chooses  to  cultivate.  Here  the  cottager  is  always  a  mere 
tenant,  subject  to  the  pleasure  of  his  landlord ;  and,  though  there 
are  many  cases  where  allotments  of  small  portions  of  land  are 
granted  them  for  a  garden  spot,  and  for  the  obtaining  of  some 
small  supplies  for  their  families,  yet  there  are  many  where  no 
indulgence  of  this  sort  is  allowed,  not  even  so  much  as  a  cabbage 
yard.  The  laborer  here  is  doomed  to  remain  in  the  condition  in 
which  he  is  born  —  he  cannot  rise  above  it.  The  provision  for 
the  education  of  the  children  of  the  laborers  is,  in  most  parts  of 
England,  extremely  limited  and  meagre.  There  are  some 
national  schools,  and  there  are,  in  many  places,  schools  estab- 
lished and  supported  by  the  liberality  of  the  landlords,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  laborers  in  their  own  villages,  and  on  their  own 
farms.  Sunday  schools  are  likewise  kept  up  in  all  the  parishes 
which  I  have  visited ;  and  I  should  be  happy,  if  it  were  allowed 
me,  to  adorn  my  page  with  the  names  of  some  noble  women, 
who,  with  a  benevolence  truly  maternal,  take  a  deep  interest  in 
these  institutions,  and  generously  support  them,  and,  better  than 
that,  personally  superintend  them.  These  are  bright  examples. 
In  one  case,  at  a  small  country  village,  on  a  Sunday,  I  saw  more 
than  four  hundred  of  these  children,  cleanly  and  plainly  dressed, 
entering  the  parish  church,  and  taking  their  seats  together,  be- 
having with  the  most  exemplary  propriety.  When  they  lifted 
up  their  voices  in  the  solemn  chants  of  the  church,  and  their 
gentle  and  shrill  tones  were  heard  above  all  the  rest,  I  could  not 
help  lifting  up  my  own  heart  to  God  in  thanksgiving,  that  the 
highest  truths  of  religion  can  be  taken  in  by  the  humblest  minds; 
that  here  was  at  work  an  instrument  of  their  elevation,  which 
no  human  power  could  forbid ;  that  here  they  were  taught  to 
recognize  the  dignity  of  their  moral  nature ;  and  that  there  is 
one  place,  where  all  earthly  distinctions  betray  their  insignifi- 


44  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

cance,  and  every  human  being  may,  on  equal  terms  and  with 
equal  confidence,  invoke  a  common  and  a  universal  Father. 
This  school  was  entirely  supported  by  and  under  the  care  of  a 
noble  woman,  who,  to  the  highest  distinctions  of  rank,  education, 
fashion,  and  fortune,  adds  the  far  higher  attributes  of  a  deep 
sense  of  religious  duty,  and  an  earnest  desire  to  be  useful. 

The  Sunday  schools  do  not,  every  where,  confine  themselves 
to  religious  instruction,  but  reading,  writing,  and  the  elements 
of  arithmetic,  are  also  taught,  because,  in  many  cases,  the  chil- 
dren of  the  poor  are  kept  so  constantly  at  labor  as  to  have  no 
other  opportunity  of  getting  this  instruction.  The  education 
given  them  is  of  a  very  limited  character,  and  does  not  extend 
beyond  reading,  writing,  and  the  first  principles  of  arithmetic, 
exclusive  of  religious  instruction.  The  British  and  foreign 
schools,  which  are  established  by  aid  from  the  government  — 
which  measures  its  bounty  by  what  may  be  raised  by  private 
subscription  in  any  parish  or  village  —  require  the  catechism  of 
the  established  church  to  be  taught,  and  the  attendance  of  the 
children  at  the  church,  under  the  penalty  of  exclusion  from  the 
school.  The  National  School  Society  allows  the  attendance  of 
the  children  at  such  church  as  the  parents  choose  ;  but  the  cate- 
chism of  the  established  church,  and  no  other,  is  allowed  to  be 
taught  in  their  schools.  The  schools  supported  by  the  liberality 
of  the  dissenters  are,  comparatively,  few  ;  and  in  most  of  these, 
without  doubt,  the  same  interest  is  active,  and  the  same  influ- 
ences are  at  work,  to  attach  their  children  to  the  particular  sect 
by  whose  patronage  the  school  is  established  and  sustained.  I 
speak  now  of  England.  I  am  not  yet  able  to  speak  of  the  con- 
dition of  things  in  Scotland,  although  it  is  constantly  boasted  of 
that  the  education  of  the  Scotch  laborer  is  always  provided  for, 
and  that  the  Scotch  laborer,  in  point  of  instruction,  is  far  superior 
to  the  English.     This  remains  for  me  to  see. 

The  condition  of  the  laborers  in  this  country  is  a  subject  of 
such  deep  concern  to  the  community,  on  the  ground  of  pecu- 
niary profit  as  well  as  of  philanthropy  and  justice,  that  I  shall,  in 
the  course  of  my  inquiries,  revert  again  to  it.  I  do  not  feel  that 
as  yet  I  am  sufficiently  well-informed  to  speak  with  much  con- 
fidence on  the  subject  ;  but  I  shall  not  leave  it  without  some 
further  remarks.  The  common  Avages  of  farm  labor  vary,  for 
men,  from  six  shillings  to  twelve  shillings  per  week ;  but  I  think 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  45 

a  fair  average  would  be  eight  to  nine  shillings  sterling.  A  shil- 
ling may  be  reckoned  at  twenty-four  cents,  so  that  the  monthly 
wages  for  a  man  may  be  put  down  at  eight  dollars  and  sixty- 
four  cents.  This  is  the  whole,  where  labor  is  paid  for  in  money, 
excepting,  as  a  matter  of  kindness,  the  farmer  generally  brings 
the  coals  for  his  laborer.  There  are  cases,  too,  in  which  the 
farmer  stipulates  to  supply  his  wheat  to  the  laborer  at  a  fixed 
price,  which  is  to  be  unaffected  by  any  changes  in  the  market. 
Six  shillings,  only,  a  week  are  reported  to  be  paid  in  some 
places,  but  I  have  met  with  no  case  less  than  eight  shillings  and 
sixpence  a  week. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  some  of  my  readers  to  have  a  more 
particular  account  of  the  wages  and  condition  of  the  labor- 
ers, and  for  that  reason  I  will  give  some  statements  of  their 
condition  in  that  part  of  the  country  where  wages  are  paid  in 
kind. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Haddingdon,  in  East  Lothian,  I  vis- 
ited a  laborer's  cottage,  being  one  in  a  range  of  six  cottages,  in  a 
district  of  country  highly  cultivated  and  improved,  and  present- 
ing some  of  the  finest  examples  of  agricultural  improvement 
which  I  have  ever  seen.  The  wife,  a  very  tidy  and  civil  woman, 
about  forty  years  of  age,  was  at  home ;  her  husband  and  daugh- 
ter laboring  in  the  field.  This  was  a  very  good  specimen  of  a 
neat  cottage,  and  its  inmates  had  passed  the  greater  part  of  their 
lives  in  it.  It  had  no  other  floor  but  the  hard  ground  ;  and  two 
beds  were  fixed  in  the  wall,  like  sailors'  berths  on  board  ship. 
The  shelves  were  covered  with  crockery ;  and  a  Bible,  and  a 
few  religious  and  other  tracts  lay  upon  the  mantel-piece.  A 
cake  made  of  pea-flour  and  barley-flour  was  baking  over  the 
fire,  of  which  I  was  asked  to  eat,  but  the  taste  of  which  did 
very  little  towards  quickening  my  appetite.  There  was,  besides 
the  one  in  which  I  was,  a  small  room  for  coal  and  lumber, 
where,  in  case  of  great  emergency,  a  lodging  might  be  made  up. 
One  of  her  neighbors  in  the  same  block,  with  no  larger  accom- 
modations, had  eight  children  to  provide  for.  Two  grown-up 
daughters,  with  one  smaller  one,  occupied  one  bed  j  the  parents, 
with  one  child,  occupied  the  other ;  the  two  grown-up  sons  slept 
in  the  lumber-room  or  coal-house.  There  is  often  much  closer 
lodging  than  this.  The  husband  of  the  woman,  in  whose  cot- 
tage I  was,  was  a  ploughman,  and  likewise  a  bondager  —  a  species 


46  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

of  service  or  contract  which  requires  him  to  furnish  a  female 
laborer,  at  ten  pence  per  day  in  ordinary  work,  and  one  shilling 
per  day  in  harvest,  whenever  her  services  are  required.  If  he 
has  not  a  wife  or  daughter  who  will  answer  this  purpose,  he 
must  keep  a  woman  in  his  house  to  be  always  in  readiness  when 
required.     His  wages  were  — 

18    bolls  of  oats,  at  4  bushels  per  boll,  ...  72  bushels. 

2    bolls  of  peas,  "  "<'...  8       •' 

4i  bolls  of  barley,  *'  ''''...  18       " 

and  £1  for  "  lint  "  — or  shirts. 

This  payment  of  wages  in  kind,  if  the  rate  is  fairly  fixed,  is 
certainly  an  equitable  mode.  Its  effect  upon  the  laborers,  as  in 
this  case,  as  they  themselves  have  grain  to  sell,  is  to  make  them 
the  advocates  of  high  prices,  and,  consequently,  the  friends  of 
those  restrictive  measures  by  which  foreign  competition  in  the 
grain  market  is  prevented.  The  employer  likewise  keeps  a  cow 
for  the  laborer ;  or  if  he  has  no  cow,  an  allowance  is  made  to 
him  of  five  or  six  pounds  in  money.  He  is  likewise  allowed 
1000  square  yards  of  ground  for  potatoes,  which  the  farmer 
ploughs  and  manures  for  him  ,•  but  which  he  cultivates  in  extra 
hours.  For  the  rent  of  his  house  he  gives  twenty-one  days' 
work  in  harvest,  if  required ;  but  should  it  happen  that  only 
twelve  or  fourteen  are  required,  it  is  accepted  as  an  equivalent. 

For  the  woman's  work  he  receives  a  fixed  amount  per  day, 
whenever  she  is  employed ;  and  for  her  six  months'  service  in  the 
year  he  pays  her  three  pounds.  For  the  other  six  months  he 
pays  her  nothing  more  than  her  board  and  some  clothes.  The 
farmer  brings  his  coals  for  him,  which  he  purchases  at  a  small 
sum,  being  small  coals,  here  called  pan-icood.  The  value  of 
three  shillings  and  sixpence  in  coals  will  serve  him  through 
seven  weeks  in  winter.  Seven  loads  (one-horse  loads,  I  suppose) 
of  coals  are  purchased  at  the  quarries  for  three  shillings  and  six- 
pence. The  farmer's  shoes  cost  him  ten  shillings,  and  one  pair 
will  last  him  eighteen  months.  His  daughter's  working  shoes 
last  her  a  year :  this  is  exclusive  of  her  Sunday's  shoes.  In 
most  parts  of  Scotland,  the  women,  in  the  summer  season,  wear 
only  their  natural  sandals  and  hose,  which  have,  indeed,  the  ad- 
vantages of  being  easily  washed,  and  easily  repaired  ,•  but  in  this 
part  of  Scotland  they  form  the  exception  of  wearing  shoes  and 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION. 


47 


stockings  the  whole  year.  Their  living  consists  of  bread  made 
of  barley  and  peas,  rneal  or  oaten  porridge  and  milk,  and  pota- 
toes ;  and  they  generally  have  a  pig.  They  cannot,  of  course, 
lay  up  any  money  ;  and  she  added,  in  her  own  pleasant  dialect, 
that  "the  lassies  have  muckle  sair  work  in  harvest."  They 
depend  on  the  sale  of  their  surplus  grain  for  what  little  money 
they  need.  I  will  do  justice  to  her  modest  merit,  and  say,  to 
the  shame  of  thousands  rolling  in  unstinted  luxury,  that  she 
spoke  of  her  condition  as  comfort-able,  and  expressed  strongly 
and  religiously  her  contentment. 

The  wages  paid  in  the  county  of  Northumberland,  where  the 
Scotch  system  of  farming  is  carried  to  a  high  degree  of  perfec- 
tion, is  as  follows,  as  given  by  several  gentlemen,  familiar 
with  the  subject,  to  the  parliamentary  committee :  — 


FIRST    EXAMPLE. 


36  bushels  of  oats, 
24       ''        "    barley, 
12       ''        '-   peas, 
3       "        "   wheat, 
3       »       '•   rye, 
36  to  40     "   potatoes, 


24  lbs.  of  wool, 

A  cow's  keep  for  a  year. 

Cottage  and  garden. 

Coals  carrying  from  the  pit, 

£4  in  cash. 


SECOND    EXAMPLE. 


10  bushels  of  wheat, 
30       "        ''    oats, 
10       "        "    barley, 
10       ''        "   rye, 
10       "        •'   peas, 
A  cow's  keep  for  a  year. 


800  yds.  of  land  for  potatoes, 
Cottage  and  garden, 
Coals  led, 
£3  10  s.  in  cash, 
2  bushels  of  barley  in  lieu  of 
hens. 


THIRD    EXAMPLE. 


36  bushels  of  oats, 
24       "         '•    barley, 
12       "         •'    peas, 
6       "         ''    wheat, 
1000  yds.  of  land  for  potatoes, 


A  cow's  keep, 
House  and  garden, 
Coals  led, 
£5  in  cash. 


48  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

The  following,  which  is  a  specimen  of  the  half-year's  account 
between  a  large  farmer  and  one  of  his  laborers  in  a  part  of  North- 
umberland, is  worthy  of  observation  :  — 

Dr.  to 

£.    s.  d. 

Jane  Thompson,  (the  bondager,)  121 J  days  at  lOd.,    .513 
Catherine  Thompson,  (a  child,)  24  harvest  days  at  Is.     1     4  0 
Do.,  73J  days  at  5d.,     ......     1  10  7J 

Elizabeth  Thompson,  (a  younger  child,)  7 J  days,  ..019^ 


1  15  9 


Isabella  Thompson,  (a  dress-maker  at  other  times,)  ^ 

35|  days  at  Is.,  ) 
Do.,  20  harvest  days  at  2s.  3d.,  ...     2     5  0 

Wife,  9  harvest  days, ....103 

His  old  father,  52  days, 3  18  0 

John  Thompson's  half-year's  cash, 2  10  0 


£19     6  8* 


This  account,  it  will  be  seen,  with  the  exception  of  the  last 
item,  does  not  include  any  portion  of  the  laborer's  own  service, 
but  that  of  his  family  only.  The  diiference  in  the  price  of 
harvest  work  at  different  periods,  as  between  one  shilling  and 
two  shillings  and  threepence,  is  probably  owing  to  labor  becom- 
ing more  scarce,  on  account  of  the  general  ripeness  of  the  crop, 
or  the  hurrying  state  of  the  weather. 

The  Scotch  laborers  seemed  to  me,  from  a  very  limited  obser- 
vation, strongly  attached  to  their  employers.  On  one  farm,  where 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting,  one  of  the  laborers  had  been  in 
the  employment  of  the  same  family  forty  years,  and  another 
sixty ;  to  each  of  whom,  although  their  labor  now  was  of  very 
little  value,  the  farmer  continued  the  same  rate  of  wages,  which 
they  had  in  early  life.  This  indeed  would  seem  to  be  no  more 
than  just,  that  the  honest  laborer,  whose  life  had  been  spent  in 
the  service  of  another  man,  should  not  be  turned  adrift  in  his  old 
age  ;  but,  alas  !  how  rare  is  justice  ! 

Of  the  extraordinary  frugality  with  which  some  persons  in 
humble  life  live,  even  where  prices  are  high,  I  may  give   an 


*  Parliamentary  Report  on  Employment  of  Women  and  Children  in  Agri- 
culture.   1843.    p.  297. 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  49 

example,  which  came  under  my  observation.  In  Arbroath,  near 
the  magnificent  ruins  of  the  ancient  abbey  of  Arbroath,  I  heard 
the  movements  of  a  hand-loom,  and  I  took  the  liberty,  with  due 
ceremony,  of  going  in.  A  middle-aged  Scotch  woman,  of  pleas- 
ing appearance  and  neatly  dressed,  was  weaving.  I  asked  her 
how  much  she  was  able  to  earn.  She  replied  that  if  she  rose 
early,  at  five  o'clock,  and  worked  all  day  through  the  week,  after 
paying  for  the  use  of  the  loom  and  the  cost  of  winding  her 
spools,  her  week's  work  would  amount  to  four  shillings.  She 
received  n®  parish  assistance.  She  paid  three  pounds  sixteen 
shillings  for  the  rent  of  her  house.  Her  fuel  cost  her  ninepence 
per  week  ;  and  out  of  the  remainder  —  less  than  two  shillings  — 
she  had  to  support  and  clothe  herself  and  an  aged  mother,  who 
was  very  infirm,  and  incapable  of  helping  herself.  What  the 
support  that  either  of  the  poor  creatures  could  have  under  such 
circumstances  must  be  left  to  conjecture.  The  woman  spoke  of 
her  circumstances  as  being  difficult,  but  she  made  no  complaint, 
and  presented  an  example  of  true  Christian  'philosophy,  which 
would  have  done  honor  to  a  superior  education  and  the  highest 
condition  in  life. 

In  all  parts  of  the  country,  women  are  more  or  less  employed 
on  the  farms,  and  in  some  parts  in  large  numbers ;  I  have  fre- 
quently counted  thirty,  fifty,  and  many  more  in  a  field  at  a  time, 
both  in  hoeing  turnips  and  in  harvesting.  I  have  found  them, 
likewise,  engaged  in  various  other  services  —  in  pulling  weeds,  in 
picking  stones,  in  unloading  and  treading  grain,  in  tending  thresh- 
ing-machines, in  digging  potatoes  and  pulling  and  topping  tur- 
nips, in  tending  cattle,  in  leading  out  dung,  and  in  carrying  lime- 
stone and  coals.  Indeed,  there  is  hardly  any  menial  service  to 
which  they  are  not  accustomed ;  and  all  notions  of  their  sex 
seem  out  of  the  question  whenever  their  labor  is  wanted  or  can 
be  applied.  The  wages  of  women  are  commonly  sixpence  and 
eightpence,  and  they  seldom  exceed  tenpence  a  day,  excepting 
in  harvest,  when  they  are  as  high  as  a  shilling.  The  hours  of 
labor  for  the  men  are  usually  from  six  o'clock,  A.  M.,  to  six, 
P.  M.,  with  an  interval  of  an  hour  for  breakfast  and  an  hour  for 
dinner.  The  women  rarely  come  before  eight  o'clock,  and  quit 
labor  at  six,  with  the  usual  indulgence  for  dinner.  Many  of  the 
laborers  walk  two  and  three  miles  to  their  work,  and  return  at 
night.  Their  meals  are  taken  in  the  fields,  and  in  the  most 
simple  form.  The  dinner  is  often  nothing  more  than  bread. 
5 


dO  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

In  the  season  of  harvest,  immense  numbers  of  Irish  come  over 
to  assist  in  the  labor,  and  this  presents  almost  the  only  oppor- 
tunity which  they  have,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  of  earning  a 
little  money  to  pay  the  rent  of  their  cabins  and  potato  patches. 
Nothing  can  exceed  the  destitution  and  squalidness  in  which  they 
are  seen  ;  starved,  ragged,  and  dirty  beyond  all  description,  with 
the  tatters  hanging  about  them  like  a  few  remaining  feathers 
upon  a  plucked  goose.  At  their  first  coming,  they  are  compara- 
tively feeble  and  inefficient ;  but  after  a  week's  comfortable 
feeding,  they  recover  strength,  increasing  some  pounds  in  weight, 
and,  if  they  are  allowed  to  perform  their  work  by  the  piece,  they 
accomplish  a  great  deal. 

I  found  in  one  case  on  two  farms  —  which,  though  under  two 
tenants,  might  be  considered  as  a  joint  concern  —  more  than  four 
hundred  laborers  employed  during  the  harvests,  a  large  proportion 
of  whom  were  women,  but  not  exclusively  Irish.  The  average 
wages  paid  the  rnen  in  this  case  was  one  shilling  sterling  (or 
twenty-four  cents)  per  day  and  their  food,  which  was  estimated 
at  about  ninepence  (or  about  eighteen  cents)  per  day.  Their 
living  consisted  of  oatmeal-porridge  and  a  small  quantity  of  sour 
milk  or  buttermilk  for  breakfast ;  a  pound  of  wheaten  bread, 
and  a  pint  and  a  half  of  beer  at  diimer  ;  and  at  night,  a  supper 
resembling  the  breakfast,  or  twopence  in  money  in  lieu  of  it.  I 
was  curious  to  know  how  so  many  people  were  lodged  at  night. 
In  some  cases,  they  throw  themselves  down  under  the  stacks,  or 
upon  some  straw  in  the  sheds,  or  out-buildings  of  the  farm ;  but 
in  the  case  to  which  I  refer  above,  I  was  shown  into  the  cattle- 
stalls  and  stables,  the  floors  of  which  were  littered  with  straw  ; 
and  here  the  men's  coats,  and  the  wom>en's  caps  and  bonnets,  upon 
the  walls,  indicated  that  it  was  occupied  by  both  parties  promis- 
cuously. This  was  indeed  the  fact.  Each  person,  as  far  as 
possible,  was  supplied  with  a  blanket ;  and  these  were  the  whole 
accommodations  and  the  whole  support.  This  was  not  a  singular 
instance.  I  am  unwilling  to  make  any  comments  upon  such 
facts  as  these.  They  speak  for  themselves.  They  are  matters 
of  general  custom,  and  seemed  to  excite  no  attention.  I  do  not 
refer  to  them  as  matter  of  reproach  to  the  employers,  who  were 
persons  of  respectable  character  and  condition,  and  whose  fami- 
lies were  distinguished  for  their  refinement.  But  it  presents  one 
among  many  instances  in  which  habit  and  custom  reconcile  us 
to  maay  things  which  would  otherwise  offend  us ;  and  lead  us 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  51 

to  view  some  practices,  utterly  unjustifiable  in  themselves,  with 
a  degree  of  complacency  or  indifference  ;  and  as  unalterable, 
because  they  have  been  so  long  established.  I  believe  there  is 
only  one  part  of  the  United  States  where  any  thing  resembling 
such  a  condition  of  things  prevails,  or  would  be  permitted ;  and 
there  only  among  a  class  of  beings  whose  claims  to  humanity 
seem  not  very  well  established  in  all  minds,  and  whose  degrada- 
tion, on  account  of  their  complexion,  appears  absolutely  hopeless. 
But,  even  here,  this  indiscriminate  consorting  is  not  common  ; 
nor  would  it  be  permitted  by  any  respectable  planter. 

This  condition  of  things  should  certainly  save  this  country 
from  the  reproach,  if  it  be  one,  which  some  English  tourists  are 
disposed  to  attribute  to  American  manners  —  that  of  treating  the 
sex  with  too  much  courtesy  and  deference.  I  cannot  bring 
myself,  however,  to  view  the  subject  with  any  lightness  what- 
ever. My  confident  conviction  is,  that  the  virtue  of  a  community 
depends  on  nothing  more  than  on  the  character  of  the  women. 
In  proportion  as  they  are  improved,  and  treated  with  deference 
on  account  of  their  sex,  the  women  are  brought  to  respect  them- 
selves, and  the  character  of  the  men  is  directly  improved  ;  char- 
acter itself  becomes  valuable  to  both  parties.  But  in  proportion 
as  the  condition  of  women  is  degraded,  and  they  are  considered 
and  treated  as  mere  animals,  self-respect  is  not  known  among 
them  ;  character  is  of  no  value  ;  and  the  moral  condition  of  such 
a  class,  or  rather  its  improvement,  is  absolutely  without  hope. 
Nor  is  it  without  its  pernicious  influences,  which  must  be  too 
obvious  to  require  to  be  pointed  out,  upon  the  classes  in  the  com- 
munity above  them.  Much  fault  as  some  persons  have  been 
pleased  to  find  with  the  deference  paid  to  the  sex  in  the  United 
States,  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  see  it  in  the  smallest  measure 
abated.  I  do  not  believe,  taken  as  a  whole,  there  is  a  more 
virtuous  population  upon  earth,  than  are  the  women  of  New 
England  and  the  Middle  States;  and  nowhere  is  there  a  greater 
decency  and  propriety  of  conversation  and  manners.  I  speak  of 
these  portions  of  the  country  in  particular,  because  with  them  I 
am  intimately  acquainted,  and  have  a  right  to  speak  with  confi- 
dence ;  but  I  have  no  reason  to  say  that  the  same  respectability 
of  character  does  not  prevail  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States. 

I  do  not  claim  for  my  country  any  thing  like  an  immaculate 
condition  of  society ;  very  far  from  it :  but  I  do  claim  for  them 
a  highly-improved  moral  condition  ;  and  have  no  hesitation  in 


q5^.  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

saying,  that  in  most  of  our  country  villages  prostitution  is  un- 
known, and  an  illegitimate  child  is  a  comparatively  rare  occur- 
rence. I  add  with  equal  confidence,  that  under  the  influence 
of  our  free  schools  and  universal  education,  and  the  disinterested 
and  philanthropic  exertions  among  all  sects  for  the  religious 
education  of  the  young  in  Sunday  schools,  the  beneficial  and 
ameliorating  results  fully  equal  every  reasonable  expectation. 
This  comes  of  the  value  of  character,  and  the  lessons  early  incul- 
cated upon  them  to  respect  themselves  as  women.  I  would,  if 
possible,  strengthen  this  sentiment ;  and  therefore  would  in  no 
department  of  life  render  less  prominent  the  distinctive  barriers 
between  the  sexes.  In  all  my  intercourse  with  society  in  the 
United  States,  and  with  opportunities  as  large  as  any  man  of 
observing  all  classes  among  them  in  the  various  conditions  of 
life,  I  have  never  known  an  instance  of  a  woman  going  to  a 
public  bar  for  drink,  or  sitting  down  in  a  public  bar-room  with 
men,  or  alone,  to  regale  herself.  The  ale-houses  and  gin-shops 
in  England  are  as  much  accustomed  by  women  as  by  men,  and 
the  results  of  such  practices  are  exactly  what  might  be  expected 
—  an  extreme  vulgarity  of  manners,  and  a  large  amount  of 
drunkenness  among  the  lower  class  of  women.  What,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  comes  with  it  need  not  be  told  ;  but  the  records 
of  the  police  courts  leave  no  one  at  a  loss. 

My  observations  in  this  case  must  be  understood  as  applying 
solely  to  the  lowest  class :  these  constitute  a  very  numerous  por- 
tion. They  apply  likewise  mainly  to  cities  and  large  towns. 
In  respect  to  the  deportment  of  the  middle  and  the  highest 
classes  —  with  whom  my  intercourse,  through  their  kindness, 
has  been  familiar  and  extensive — nothing  in  manners  or  conver- 
sation can  be  farther  removed  from  that  which  is  vulgar  or 
offensive  ;  and  for  propriety  and  the  highest  degree  of  refine- 
ment, nothing  can  be  more  exemplary  and  delightful. 

In  districts  strictly  agricultural,  the  low  rate  of  wages  does  not 
admit  of  much  expenditure  in  this  way;  and,  if  there  are  in- 
dulgences, they  must  be  at  home  in  the  village  ale-houses,  and 
only  occasional.  For  a  considerable  portion  of  the  year,  the 
farm  laborers  are  not  allowed  any  beer,*  in  the  ha^^ing  and 
harvesting,  their  allowance  seldom  exceeds  one  pint  and  a  half, 
which,  as  it  is  small  beer,  cannot  be  considered  excessive.  I 
could  not  learn  that  any  allowance  of  whisky  or  spirit  is  ever 
given  them  by  their  employers,  or  that  it  is  ever  carried  by  them 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  53 

into  the  fields.  The  drinking,  in  this  country,  with  the  lower 
and  laboring  classes  of  people,  seems,  in  a  great  degree,  confined 
to  the  licensed  houses,  of  which,  certainly,  there  is  nowhere 
any  want.  In  passing  through  the  village  of  Glossop,  in  Derby- 
shire, a  modern  and  an  exceedingly  well-built  village,  in  a  dis- 
tance, I  should  judge,  of  less  than  three  fourths  of  a  mile,  I 
counted,  as  I  passed  along  on  the  box  of  the  coach,  thirty-five 
licensed  retail  shops,  most  of  which  were  probably  for  the  sale, 
among  other  things,  of  intoxicating  liquors.  Indeed,  the  number 
of  licensed  retailers  in  every  village  in  England  is  quite  remark- 
able, and  would  seem,  in  many  cases,  to  include  almost  every 
fourth  house. 

I  am  not  disposed  to  object  to  the  employment  of  women  in 
some  kinds  of  agricultural  labor.  The  employment  of  them  in 
indiscriminate  labor  is  liable  to  the  most  serious  objections. 
Nothing  can  be  more  animating,  and,  in  its  way,  more  beau- 
tiful, than,  on  a  fine,  clear  day,  when  the  golden  and  waving  har- 
vest is  ready  for  the  sickle,  to  see,  as  I  have  several  times  seen,  a 
party  of  more  than  a  hundred  women  and  girls  entering  the 
field,  cutting  the  grain,  or  binding  it  up  after  the  reapers.  In 
cultivating  the  turnips,  they  are  likewise  extremely  expert.  In 
tending  and  making  hay,  and  in  various  other  agricultural  labors, 
they  carry  their  end  of  the  yoke  even ;  but  in  loading  and  lead- 
ing out  dung,  and  especially,  as  I  have  seen  them,  in  carrying 
broken  limestone  in  baskets  on  their  heads,  to  be  put  into  the 
kilns,  and  in  bearing  heavy  loads  of  coal  from  the  pits,  I  have 
felt  that  their  strength  was  unnaturally  taxed,  and  that,  at  least 
in  these,  cases,  they  were  quite  out  of  "woman's  sphere."  I 
confess,  likewise,  that  my  gallantry  has  often  been  severely 
tried,  when  I  have  seen  them  at  the  inns  acting  as  ostlers,  bring- 
ing out  the  horses  and  assisting  in  changing  the  coach  team, 
while  the  coachman  went  into  the  inn  to  try  the  strength  of 
the  ale. 

As  far  as  health  is  concerned,  the  out-door  employment  of 
Avomen  is  altogether  favorable.  As  far  as  virtue  or  moral  purity 
is  concerned,  out-door  employment  in  itself  is  not  more  objec- 
tionable than  employment  within  doors.  Indeed,  from  the 
inquiries  which  have  been  made  into  this  matter,  and  the  elabo- 
rate reports  that  have  been  given  to  the  government,  it  does  not 
appear  that  the  agricultural  districts,  where  the  custom  of  out- 
door employment  for  women  prevails,  are  more  immoral  than  the 
5* 


54  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

manufacturing  districts.  But  the  natural  effect  of  such  employ- 
ment upon  women  is  to  render  them  negligent  of  their  persons, 
and  squalid  and  dirty  in  their  appearance ;  and  with  this  neglect 
of  person,  they  cease  to  be  treated  with  any  deference  by  the 
other  sex,  and  lose  all  respect  for  themselves.  Personal  neglect 
and  uncleanliness  are  followed  by  their  almost  invariable  con- 
comitants, mental  and  moral  impurity  and  degradation.  The 
working  likewise  promiscuously  with  men,  which  is  done  con- 
tinually, must  expose  them  to  rude  jests,  and  to  language  and 
manners  which,  among  the  lower  class  of  men,  are  too  often 
grossly  indecent  and  immoral.  In  all  other  respects,  many  kinds 
of  out-door  agricultural  employment  must  be,  and  is,  as  it  is 
admitted,  favorable  to  health  and  vigor.  The  general  health  and 
vigor  of  such  women,  so  many  hours  engaged  in  reasonable  exer- 
cise in  the  open  air,  contrast  most  favorably  with  the  effemi- 
nacy, debility,  and  early  decay  of  those  who  are  confined  in 
heated  and  close  manufactories,  or  in  sedentary  employments 
within  doors.  Nor,  in  point  of  moral  conduct,  as  far  as  mere 
occupation  is  concerned,  is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
agricultural  classes  would  suffer  in  comparison  with  the  manu- 
facturing classes,  or  with  the  host  of  young  women  in  cities, 
employed  in  various  trades  and  in-door  occupations.  We  have 
few  instances,  in  the  free  states,  of  women  being  employed  in 
field  labor.  The  women  in  Wethersfield,  Connecticut,  have  for 
years  been  accustomed  to  the  cultivation  of  onions,  doing  every 
thing  for  the  crop,  excepting  ploughing  and  manuring  the  land ; 
even  to  preparing  it  for  the  market.  They  certainly  h^ve 
suffered  no  evil,  but,  on  the  contrary,  have  derived  much  benefit, 
from  the  occupation.  Nowhere,  it  is  believed,  can  men,  depend- 
ent upon  their  own  exertions  for  support,  find  wives  better  able 
to  manage  their  household  affairs,  more  frugal,  more  industrious, 
or  more  tidy,  than  among  the  industrious  young  women  of  Weth- 
ersfield. It  must  seem  strange  to  many  persons  if  I  also  add,  as 
I  know  I  may  with  truth,  that  many  of  these  young  women  are 
persons  of  good  education,  and  to  a  degree,  allowing  for  the 
retired  condition  of  society  in  which  they  have  been  brought  up, 
even  of  refined  manners :  so  totally  different,  indeed,  are  the 
conditions  of  the  laboring  classes  in  England  and  the  United 
States.  In  truth,  no  comparison  can  properly  be  instituted  be- 
tween them.  In  general,  among  the  laboring  classes  in  England, 
their  low  condition,  their  ignorance,  and  want  of  education,  and 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  511 

the  almost  absolute  impossibility  of  rising  above  the  estate  in 
which  they  are  born,  render  them,  to  a  great  degree,  reckless 
and  improvident.  Character  becomes  consequently  of  far  less 
importance  than  it  would  otherwise  be.  There  are  wanting, 
consequently,  the  motives  to  that  self-respect,  which  constitutes 
the  highest  security  of  virtue  ;  and  under  such  a  condition  of 
things,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  a  laxity  of  morals,  which  pro- 
duces swarms  of  illegitimate  children.  This  is  attended  by  the 
usual  consequence  —  an  absence,  on  the  part  of  the  parents,  of 
that  sense  of  obligation  to  support  and  provide  for  their  offspring, 
which  is  to  be  found  in  its  purity  and  strength  only  in  legal 
wedlock. 

There  are  two  practices  in  regard  to  agricultural  labor,  not 
universal,  by  any  means,  but  prevailing  in  some  parts  of  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  which  I  may  notice.  The  first  is  called  the 
"  gang  system."  In  some  places,  owing  to  the  size  of  farms  being 
greatly  extended,  cottages  being  suffered  to  fall  into  decay  and  ruin, 
laborers  have  been  congregated  in  villages,  where  have  prevailed 
all  the  evils,  physical  and  moral,  which  are  naturally  to  be  expected 
from  a  crowded  population,  shoved  into  small  and  inconvenient 
habitations,  and  subjected  to  innumerable  privations.  In  this  case, 
the  farmer  keeps  in  permanent  and  steady  employment  no  more 
laborers  than  are  absolutely  required  for  the  constant  and  uninter- 
rupted operations  of  the  farm  ;  and  relies  upon  the  obtaining  of  a 
large  number  of  hands,  or  a  gangj  as  it  is  termed,  whenever  any 
great  job  is  to  be  accomplished,  that  he  may  be  enabled  to  effect 
it  at  once  and  at  the  smallest  expense.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, he  applies  to  a  gang-master,  as  he  is  termed,  who  contracts 
for  its  execution,  and  through  whom  the  poor  laborers  must  find 
employment,  if  they  find  it  at  all ;  and  upon  whose  terms  they 
must  work,  or  get  no  work.  The  gang-master  has  them  then 
completely  in  his  power,  taking  care  to  provide  well  for  himself 
in  his  own  commissions,  which  must,  of  course,  be  deducted 
from  the  wages  of  the  laborers,  and  subjecting  them,  at  pleasure, 
to  the  most  despotic  and  severe  conditions.  It  is  not  optional 
with  these  poor  creatures  to  say  whether  they  will  work  or  not, 
but  whether  they  will  work  or  die  —  they  have  no  other  resource 
—  change  their  condition  they  cannot  —  contract  separately  for 
their  labor  they  cannot,  because  the  farmer  confines  his  contracts 
to  the  gang-master ;  and  we  may  infer  from  the  Reports  of  the 


m 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


Commissioners,  laid  before  the  government,  that  the  system  is 
one  of  oppression,  cruelty,  and  plunder,  and  in  every  respect 
leading  to  gross  immoralities.  The  distance  to  which  these 
laborers  go  is  often  as  much  as  five  or  six  miles,  and  this  usually 
on  foot,  and  to  return  at  night.  Children  and  girls  are  compelled 
to  go  these  distances,  and  consequently  must  rise  very  early  in 
the  morning  and  reach  home  at  a  very  late  hour  at  night.  Girls 
and  boys  and  young  men  and  women  work  indiscriminately 
together.  When  the  distance  to  which  they  go  for  work  is  ten 
miles,  they  are  sent  in  carts.  When  the  distances  are  great, 
they  occasionally  pass  the  night  at  the  place  of  work,  and  then 
lodge  in  barns,  or  any  where  else,  indiscriminately  together.  To 
talk  of  morals  in  such  a  ease  i«  idle.  One  of  the  gang-masters, 
who  has  been  an  overseer  seventeen  years,  gives  it  as  his  testi- 
mony, under  oath,  ''  that  seventy  out  of  a  hundred  of  the  girls 
become  prostitutes,"  and  the  general  account  given  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  system  shows  an  utter  profligacy  of  mind  in  their 
general  conversation  and  manners,  when  morals  must  follow  of 
course.  If  they  go  in  the  morning  and  stay  only  a  little  while, 
on  account  of  rain,  or  other  good  cause,  they  are  paid  nothing. 
The  day  is  divided  into  quarters,  but  no  smaller  fractions  of 
time  are  in  any  case  allowed  to  them.  Then  the  persons  em- 
ployed are  required,  in  many  cases,  to  deal  with  the  gang-master 
for  the  supplies  they  receive,  in  payment  for  their  labor.  The 
results  of  such  a  system  are  obvious.  The  work  being  taken  by 
the  piece,  the  gang-master  presses  them  to  their  utmost  strength. 
The  fragments  of  days,  in  which  work  is  done  and  not  paid  for 
to  the  laborers,  are  all  to  the  benefit  of  the  gang-master,  who, 
in  such  case,  gets  a  large  amount  of  work  done  at  no  cost. 
These  poor  wretches,  being  unable  to  contract  for  themselves,  or 
to  get  any  work  but  through  him,  he  of  course  determines  the 
price  of  the  labor,  and,  one  may  be  sure,  puts  it  down  to  the 
lowest  point.  But  his  advantages  do  not  end  here,  for  there  is 
no  doubt  that  he  gets  a  high  advance  upon  the  goods  which  he 
requires  them  to  purchase  of  him,  and  thus  their  wages  are 
reduced  still  lower.  No  just  or  benevolent  mind,  it  would  seem, 
can  look  upon  any  such  system  in  all  its  details,  as  given  in  the 
Commissioners'  Report,  but  with  a  profound  sense  of  its  injus- 
tice, oppression,  and  immorality. 

One  of  t?ie  gang-masters  says,  '•  If  they  go  to  work  two  hours 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  57 

and  a  half,  it  is  a  quarter  of  a  day.  If  they  go  a  long  walk, 
seven  miles  or  so,  and  it  comes  on  a  wet  day,  there  is  the  walk 
all  for  nothing.  Children  of  the  ages  of  four,  five,  and  six,  work 
in  the  gangs.  They  earn  9  d.  a  day,  the  big  ones  ;  the  small, 
4  d. ;  children  of  seven  years  old,  3  d.  a  day."  "  It  is  the  ruin  of 
a  girl,"  says  a  parent,  one  of  the  laborers,  ''  to  be  in  such  a  place 
as  that."  "  My  children's  hands  are  so  blistered,"  says  another 
of  the  parents,  '•'  pulling  turnips,  that  I  have  been  obliged  to  tie 
them  up  every  night  this  winter.  Pulling  turnips  blisters  the 
hands  very  much  —  they  are  obliged  to  pull  them  up  —  they 
must  not  take  turnip  crones  (a  sort  of  fork)  for  fear  of  damaging 
the  turnips." 

"  The  gangsman,  or  leader,"  says  another  witness,  ''  pays  the 
Avages  of  all  employed  in  the  gang,  and,  of  course,  makes  his 
profit  entirely  from  their  labor,  as  the  farmer  takes  care  that  the 
gang  system  shall  not  cost  him  more  than  the  common  system 
of  individual  laborers.  The  leader's  profit,  as  I  have  heard,  is 
sometimes  15  s.  per  day.  The  assembling  of  twenty-five  and 
thirty  women  and  children  and  lads,  of  all  ages  and  conditions 
and  characters,  together,  has  a  most  fatal  eftect  upon  their  morals 
and  conduct."  Another  respectable  and  reverend  witness  says, 
"  The  gang  is  superintended  by  a  lazy,  idle  fellow,  of  profligate 
manners  and  a  dishonest  character  —  such,  at  all  events,  are  the 
characters  of  two  in  my  own  neighborhood." 

I  will  not  dwell  upon  tho  evils  of  a  management  of  this  kind. 
It  is  obvious  what  a  power  such  a  man,  the  employer  of  these 
people,  has  over  them ;  and  it  is  as  easy  to  infer  what  is  likely 
to  be  the  character  of  young  persons,  more  especially,  placed  under 
his  control.  When  are  men  to  be  just  ?  and  when  are  men,  who 
live  upon  the  hard  labor  of  others,  and  who  hold  not  merely  their 
physical  but  their  moral  destiny  in  their  hands,  to  feel  their 
responsibleness  as  Christians  and  as  men  ? 

The  most  melancholy  circumstance  in  the  case  is  given  in  the 
testimony  of  one  witness,  a  clergyman,  who  says,  "  that  he  fears 
the  gang  system  will  and  must  increase,  especially  upon  large 
farms."  It  would  not  be  unreasonable  to  fear  that  God  would 
send  blight  and  mildew  upon  fields  where  human  life  and  virtue 
are  thus  sacrificed,  and  decency  and  morals  thrown  to  the  winds ; 
and  where  the  crops  are  watered  with  the  tears  of  these  wretched 
victims  of  injustice  and  oppression. 


58  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

There  is  another  system  of  employment,  which  prevails  in 
Northumberland  and  in  some  parts  of  Scotland,  to  which  I  have 
already  alluded :  this  is  called  the  bondage  system,  but  it  does 
not  appear  to  me  liable  to  the  strong  objections  which  the  name 
would  seem  to  imply.  In  this  case,  the  laborer,  when  he  con- 
tracts for  his  services,  makes  a  condition  that  he  will,  as  may  be 
required,  furnish  a  woman  as  an  additional  laborer ;  and  he 
receives  so  much  per  day  for  her  labor,  according  to  the  number 
of  days  she  may  be  employed.  In  such  case,  if  he  has  not  a 
wife  or  daughter  to  supply  the  place,  he  engages  some  young 
woman  who  lives  in  his  family,  and  to  whom  he  pays  such  a 
sum  by  the  year  as  may  be  agreed  upon,  in  money,  clothing,  or 
otherwise,  and  she  lives  in  his  family  as  one  of  the  family  for 
the  whole  year.  There  are  few  forms  of  servitude  which  are  not 
liable  to  abuses,  and  the  greater  the  state  of  dependence  and 
weakness,  so  much  increased  is  the  liability  to  abuse  ;  but  where 
the  employer  is  a  conscientious  and  just  man,  such  a  contract 
may  be  mutually  advantageous. 

In  parts  of  Scotland,  what  is  called  the  Bothie  system  prevails. 
and  the  support  of  the  laborers  is  a  very  summary  process.  The 
wages  are  paid  in  money  or  kind,  as  may  be  agreed  upon ;  and 
the  laborers,  if  single  men,  are  furnished  with  a  room,  fuel,  and 
bedding ;  with  two  pecks  of  oatmeal  on  Monday  morning,  and 
with  a  daily  allowance  of  new  or  of  sour  milk  —  occasionally 
they  may  have  beer  and  bread  for  dinner  instead  of  the  porridge. 
Nothing  more,  however,  is  done  for  them.  They  prepare  their 
porridge  for  themselves  in  such  way  as  they  choose  ;  but  this 
comprehends  the  whole  of  their  living.  It  would  not  be  true  to 
say  that  this  diet  is  insufficient  for  the  support  of  a  laboring  man. 
as  it  must  be  admitted  that  few  laborers  exhibit  firmer  health,  or 
more  muscular  vigor,  or  really  perform  more  work,  than  many  of 
these  men.  This  mode  of  living  would,  however,  I  think,  be  a 
little  too  primitive  for  the  New  England  taste,  though  on  matters 
of  taste  we  are  told  there  is  to  be  no  dispute.  Having  myself 
visited  a  Scotch  Bothie,  I  cannot,  how  much  soever  the  economy 
of  the  arrangements  may  be  praised,  much  commend  the  style 
of  the  housekeeping.  Indeed,  it  is  not  difficult  to  infer  that 
where  young  men  at  service  are  turned  into  a  hovel  together, 
and  without  any  one  to  look  after  their  lodging  or  prepare  their 
meals,  the  style  of  living  cannot  have  the  advantages  even  of  the 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  59 

wigwam  of  a  North  American  savage ;  for  there,  at  least,  there 
is  a  squaw  to  provide  the  food  and  look  after  the  premises.* 
The  wages  of  a  Scotch  laborer  are  about  £12  sterling  per  year, 
and  living  as  above  ;  and  for  a  woman,  as  a  field  laborer,  four 
shillings  sterling  per  week,  or  about  eighty-eight  cents,  out  of 
which  she  provides  for  herself. 

The  condition  of  labor  forms,  as  is  obvious,  a  most  important 
element  in  the  agriculture  of  a  country.  Human  labor,  indeed, 
seems  far  more  essentially  concerned  in  agriculture  than  in  either 
commerce  or  manufactures*  A  few  hands  may  manage  a  large 
ship,  freighted  with  immense  wealth,  and  performing  voyages 
which  equal  the  circuit  of  the  globe.  A  child  may  superintend 
a  large  number  of  spindles ;  and  a  single  power  wheel  sets  in 
motion  a  vast  and  complicated  machinery.  Agriculture  h£is 
already  derived  vast  benefits  from  mechanical  ingenuity,  and  may 
confidently  anticipate  from  this  source  an  immense  extension  of 
her  power  ;  but  there  can  be  no  question  that  she  must,  at  least 
for  a  long  time  to  come,  continue  mainly  dependent  upon  human 
labor.  The  cost  of  labor,  therefore,  and  the  general  support  and 
condition  of  this  labor,  are  alike  interesting  to  the  agriculturist 
and  the  philanthropist. 

In  an  old  country  like  England,  where  labor  is  so  abundant,  it 
is  to  be  expected  that  the  rules  of  labor  should  be  exact  and 
stringent ;  indeed,  without  this  the  management  of  a  large  farm 
would  be  impracticable.  The  women  usually  begin  work  at  eight 
o'clock,  and,  resting  an  hour  for  dinner,  they  work  until  five,  or, 
in  a  pressure  of  work,  until  six.  The  ploughman  must  feed  and 
clean  his  horses  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  at  six  o'clock 
the  plough  must  be  under  way.  At  two  o'clock,  his  horses  are 
put  up  for  the  day,  and  he  devotes  himself  until  six  o'clock  to 
their  cleansing  and  feeding,  and  to  the  care  of  his  plough  and 
harness ;  eight  hours  in  the  field,  and  the  ploughing  an  acre  of 

*  Of  the  Bothie  system,  as  it  is  called,  or  employment  of  unmarried  men, 
living  together  in  a  bothie  or  hovel  attached  to  the  steading,  it  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say,  that  a  more  effective  means  of  demoralizing  and  brutalizing  a  peas- 
antry could  not  be  devised  than  that  of  crowding  together  a  parcel  of  young 
men,  half  of  them  perhaps  strangers,  Irish,  or  bad  characters,  in  a  hovels  by  them- 
selves, without  even  an  attempt  at  moral  superintendence.  This  is  one  of  the 
worst  evils  that  has  attended  the  introduction  of  the  large  farm  system. — 
Laing's  Prize.  Essay. 


60  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

ground,  being  considered  a  full  day's  work.  The  other  laborers 
begin  labor  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  work  until  six  in 
the  afternoon,  with  the  intermission  of  half  an  hour  for  breakfast 
and  an  hour  for  dinner.  No  laborer  leaving  his  employment 
before  the  termination  of  his  engagement,  without  good  and 
sufficient  reason,  can  recover  any  portion  of  his  wages ;  and  no 
employer,  without  equal  reason,  can  dismiss  a  laborer  before  the 
end  of  the  term  for  which  he  is  engaged.  In  general,  however, 
laborers  continue  for  years  in  the  same  employment,  especially 
married  men  ;  and  it  is  extremely  interesting,  speaking  well  both 
for  master  and  servant,  to  see  men  and  women  who  have  remained 
in  the  same  service  twenty,  thirty,  forty,  and  even  fifty  years, 
and  their  children  coming  forward  to  take  their  places.  In  such 
cases,  they  become,  as  it  were,  an  integral  part  of  the  establish- 
ment, and  both  parties  are  equally  benefited. 

In  some  parts  of  the  country,  as  in  Lincolnshire  for  example, 
twice  a  year,  in  the  spring  and  autumn,  are  held,  in  some  princi- 
pal market  towns,  statute  fairs,  vulgarly  called  ^'  Statties,"  where 
young  men  and  women  wanting  service  assemble,  and  persons 
wanting  laborers  or  servants  go  there  to  supply  their  wants. 
Such  arrangements  have  certainly  many  advantages ;  but  they 
have  also  their  evils,  and  the  assembling  of  large  numbers  of 
men  and  women,  in  such  cases,  with,  not  unfrequently,  the  usual 
accompaniments  of  a  Fair,  are  said  to  lead  to  much  dissolute- 
ness and  dissipation.  This  is  to  be  expected.  This  arrange- 
ment serves  to  average  the  rate  of  wages,  and  must  be  to  all 
parties  a  great  saving  of  time.  In  the  present  condition  of 
female  labor  in  the  United  States,  there  could  be  none  but  the 
worthless  to  offer  themselves  in  this  way  ;  but  with  respect  to 
young  men  seeking  employment,  there  would  be  great  advan- 
tages in  having  a  day  and  place  fixed  in  some  principal  town, 
when  and  where  persons  wishing  for  employment  might  be 
found  by  persons  wishing  to  employ  them ;  and  such  an  "  Ex- 
change "  might  be  annually  held  to  advantage.  An  arrange- 
ment of  this  kind  has  often  recommended  itself  to  my  mind  for 
its  convenience,  and  I  have,  before  this,  urged  its  adoption. 

I  have  endeavored,  with  strict  regard  to  truth,  to  state  what  I 
understand  to  be  the  condition  of  the  agricultural  population  in 
this  country.  Further  inquiries  may  serve  to  correct  or  modify 
my  views  on  this  subject.     I  am  perfectly  aware  how  difficult  it 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  Q^ 

is  for  a  foreigner  to  obtain  a  correct  knowledge  or  to  form  a  fair 
judgment  of  the  customs  and  manners  of  any  country  which  he 
visits;  and  especially  where  his  residence  is  limited,  and  his 
observations  necessarily  partial.  Feeling  no  prejudices,  and 
having  no  private  interests  or  partialities  in  the  case,  other  than 
those  which  are  inseparable  from  an  education  in  another  condi- 
tion in  society,  and  under  political  institutions  differing  entirely 
from  those  which  prevail  here,  I  am  desirous,  above  all  things,  to 
hold  my  diind  open  to  the  light  of  farther  and  more  exact 
inquiry. 

It  does  not  need  any  long  experience  to  learn  that  first  impres- 
sions are  not  always  the  most  correct ;  and  every  intelligent  and 
candid  mind  must  allow  that  most  men  have  some  reasons 
which,  to  their  minds,  appear  sufficient  for  what  they  do ;  that 
many  customs  which  have  prevailed  for  ages,  however  objection- 
able at  first  sight  they  may  appear  to  us,  have  grown  out  of 
peculiar  circumstances  of  time  and  place,  which  sanction  their 
expediency  at  the  time  of  their  origin,  if  not  the  propriety  of 
their  continuance  :  and  that,  in  respect  to  many  acknowledged 
evils,  it  is  far  more  easy  to  deplore  the  existence  than  to  point 
out  the  remedy.  While  circumstances  of  this  nature  prompt  to 
caution  and  forbearance  in  our  judgments,  they  do  not  require 
us,  at  the  expense  of  our  moral  sense,  to  regard  these  evils  in 
any  other  than  their  true  character,  to  palliate  either  their  nature 
or  extent,  or  to  look  upon  them,  under  any  circumstances,  in 
utter  despair  of  their  removal  or  alleviation.  Nor  will  they 
excuse  any  neglect  of  air  proper  and  possible  exertion  to  remedy 
an  acknowledged  evil. 

The  condition  of  the  laboring  agricultural  class  is  certainly,  in 
many  parts  of  England,  exceedingly  depressed  ;  and  though  in 
frequent  instances  it  may  be  called  comfortable,  in  few  that  I 
have  seen  can  it  be  considered  prosperous.  Their  labor  is  not 
extraordinarily  severe ;  they  are  by  no  means  treated  with  un- 
kindness,  or,  excepting  through  the  misfortune  of  the  ill  temper 
of  their  employer,  with  severity ;  they  are  decently  clad,  and 
there  is  a  great  amount  of  active  benevolence  every  where  at  work 
to  assist  them,  and  to  alleviate  their  distress  in  sickness  and  mis- 
fortune. But  they  are  very  poorly  fed ;  with  many  exceptions, 
they  are  wretchedly  lodged  j  their  wages  are  inadequate  to  their 
comfortable  support;  and  their  situation  affords  little  or  no 
6 


62  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

hope  of  improvement,  —  at  least  the  power  of  making  it  better 
does  not  rest,  where  it  should,  with  themselves. 

It  is  a  painful,  though  not  an  unheard-of  anomaly,  that,  in  the 
midst  of  the  greatest  abundance  of  human  food,  immense  num- 
bers of  those  by  whose  labor  this  food  is  produced  are  actually 
suffering  and  perishing  from  hunger  ;  that  where  ten  millions  of 
acres  of.  improvable  lands,  capable  of  being  made  productive 
lands,  lie  uncultivated,*  millions  of  hands,  which  might  subdue, 
enrich,  and  beautify  this  waste,  from  necessity  remain  unem- 
ployed ;  and  that,  in  a  country  where  the  accumulations  of 
wealth  surpass  the  visions  of  Oriental  splendor  and  magnificence, 
there  exist,  on  the  other  hand,  such  contrasts  of  want,  destitu- 
tion, privation,  and  misery,  as  would  surpass  belief  and  defy  the 
power  of  the  imagination,  but  for  the  support  of  incontrovertible 
and  overwhelming  evidence.  Under  the  present  institutions  of 
the  country,  a  perfect  remedy  is  hopeless,  and  an  alleviation  of 
these  evils  is  all  which  can  be  looked  for.  An  entire  revolution 
in  the  institutions  of  the  country,  in  the  forms  of  society,  and  in 
the  condition  of  property,  could  only  be  efiected  by  violence  ; 
and  the  consequences  of  such  a  revolution  it  would  be  frightful 
to  contemplate.  But  should  a  revolution  occur,  and  the  frame- 
work of  society  be  broken  up,  and  its  elements  be  thrown  into  a 
state  of  chaotic  confusion,  what  sagacity  could  predict  the 
results,  and  what  security  is  there  that  in  any  re-arrangement 
these  evils  would  be  rectified  and  the  rights  of  labor  any  better 
protected  ?  I  say  the  rights  of  labor ;  for  who,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, will  presume  to  deny  that  they,  by  whose  labor  the 
earth  is  made  to  yield  her  fruits,  and  all  accumulations  of  wealth 
are  obtained,  have  not,  indeed,  in  common  justice,  a  perfect 
claim  to  a  full  share  of  the  products  of  their  own  toil  ?  I  care 
not  what  claims  arbitrary  and  despotic  power  may  set  up ;  nor 
by  what  laws  and  rules  she  may  seek  to  appropriate  to  her  own 
use  or  luxury  much  the  largest  portion  of  these  products  ;  but  I 
claim  for  the  laborer  an  ample  share  of  the  fruits  of  his  industry 
on  the  obvious  grounds  of  natural  right  and  justice,  and  the 
plainest  principles  of  Christianity. 

I  am  not  at  all  disposed  to  quarrel  with  any  of  the  institutions 
of  this  great  and  enlightened  country  —  great  and  enlightened, 

*  Journal  of  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  vol.  iv.  pt.  ii.  p.  308. 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION. 


6S 


as  a  whole,  beyond  almost  any  precedent.  I  am  not  disposed, 
in  any  offensive  form,  to  profess  my  own  preferences  for  insti- 
tutions to  which  birth  and  education  may  have  strongly  attached 
me,  founded  as  they  are  on  the  great  principles  of  universal 
liberty  as  the  birthright  of  every  man,  and  of  social  equality  as 
conformable  to  nature,  and  the  only  relation  in  which  men  can 
stand  to  their  Creator,  or  under  which  they  would  dare  to  ap- 
proach him.  But,  to  my  mind,  it  is  obvious  that  no  great  im- 
provement can  take  place  in  the  character  and  condition  of  the 
laboring  population  while  they  remain  a  distinct  and  servile  class, 
without  any  power  of  rising  above  their  condition.  At  present, 
the  most  imaginative  and  sanguine  see  no  probability  of  their 
rising  above  their  condition,  of  being  any  thing  but  laborers,  or 
of  belonging  to  any  other  than  a  servile  and  dependent  class. 
The  low  state  of  their  wages  absolutely  forbids  the  accumula- 
tion of  any  property.  They  cannot  own  any  of  the  soil  which 
they  cultivate.  The  houses  which  they  occupy  belong  not  to 
themselves,  and  they  may  at  any  time  be  turned  out  of  them. 
They  must  ask  leave  to  live,  or  they  must  take  it  by  violence  or 
plunder  when  they  will  not  be  suffered  to  live.  Their  only 
home  is  the  grave. 

In  a  country  where  labor  is  superabundant,  and  the  price  of 
land  places  it  utterly  beyond  the  reach  of  those  who  have  no 
means  to  purchase  but  from  the  scanty  products  of  their  own 
manual  labor,  the  condition  of  the  laborer  is  that  of  absolute 
dependence.  In  a  condition  of  society  where  artificial  ranks  and 
classes  exist,  and  where  all  the  wealth  and  all  the  power  are  in 
the  possession  of  the  upper,  or,  as  they  are  sometimes  denom- 
inated, the  favored  classes,  the  barriers  which  hem  in  the  lowest 
clajss  —  without  property,  without  power,  Avithout  education, 
without  even  a  home  which  they  can  call  their  own  —  are,  of 
course,  impassable.  In  a  country  where  labor  is  scarce,  where 
land  is  cheap  and  free,  and  where  the  advantages  of  a  good  edu- 
cation are  offered  gratuitously  to  all,  where  no  arbitrary  distinc- 
tions of  rank  exist,  and  every  man,  by  the  force  of  his  own  talents 
and  character,  may  occupy  that  condition  in  society  to  which  he 
chooses  to  aspire,  it  is  obvious  how  different  is  the  situation  of 
the  laboring  portion. 

I  believe  it  is  impossible  for  a  man  who  lives  in  a  state  of 
entire  dependence  upon  others  to  have  the  spirit  of  a  man  ;  and 


64 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


Avho,  in  looking  out  upon  the  beautiful  and  productive  earth, 
where  God  has  placed  him,  is  compelled  to  feel  that  there  is  not 
a  foot  of  soil  which,  under  any  circumstances,  he  can  claim  for 
himself;  that  there  is  not  a  tree  nor  a  shelving  rock  by  the  road 
side,  where  he  can  shelter  himself  and  gather  under  his  wing  the 
little  ones  whom  God  may  have  cast  upon  his  care,  but  he  is 
liable  to  be  driven  away  at  the  will  of  another  —  at  the  caprice 
of  avarice,  selfishness,  pride,  or  unbridled  power  ;  that  the  use 
of  his  own  hands  and  limbs  is  not  his  own ;  that  he  cannot, 
but  at  the  will  of  another,  find  a  spot  of  ground  where  he  can 
apply  them  ;  and  that  even  the  gushings  from  the  rock  in  the 
wilderness  and  the  manna  which  descends  from  heaven  are 
intercepted  in  their  progress  to  him,  and  doled  out  too  often  in 
reluctant  and  scanty  measure. 

This  will  not  be  pronounced  an  exaggerated  or  colored  portrait  of 
the  condition  of  the  agricultural  laboring  population  of  England. 
I  suppose  that,  with  the  exception  of  some  few  rights  of  common, 
where  some  miserable  mud-hut  has  been  erected,  and  the  pos- 
sessor has  a  kind  of  allowed  claim  during  his  life,  few  instances 
can  be  found  of  a  laborer's  owning,  in  fee  simple,  a  cottage,  or 
so  much  as  a  rood  of  land.  I  recollect,  in  passing  through  a  part 
of  Derbyshire,  in  a  region  which  farms  the  contiguity  of  several 
large  estates,  the  coachman,  by  whose  side  I  was  seated,  said  to 
me,  that  this  was  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's  village,  and  this  the 
Duke  of  Rutland's,  and  this  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's,  and  so  on  ; 
and  I  could  not  help  asking  myself,  with  some  sinking  of  heart. 
Where  is  the  people's  own  village  ? 

In  a  part  of  Lincolnshire,  an  excellent  landlord  and  friend,  dis- 
tinguished for  his  integrity  and  philanthropy,  was  kind  enough 
to  take  me  to  visit  several  of  his  cottages,  that  I  might  see,  as  he 
said,  some  of  the  best  examples  of  this  kind  of  life.  It  was  on  a 
Sunday  evening.  The  houses  were  humble,  but  they  were  neat 
and  comfortable.  The  inhabitants  of  one  house  which  we 
entered  were  advanced  in  life,  and  alone  ;  for,  although  they  had 
children,  their  children  had  been  under  the  necessity,  as  soon  as 
capable  of  service,  of  leaving  home  in  search  of  a  livelihood. 
The  appearance  of  these  people  was  altogether  respectable,  but 
there  were  two  incidents,  which,  though  very  small  in  themselves, 
at  least  furnished  matter  for  grave  reflection.  The  landlord  had 
given  notice,  a  few  days  previously,  to  some  of  his 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  60 

quit,  because,  with  a  viev\^  to  the  small  profit  to  be  derived  from 
their  board,  they  had  taken  lodgers  into  their  families,  who  were 
not  agreeable  to  him.  The  old  people  whom  I  was  visiting, 
though  they  had  occupied  the  same  place  for  perhaps  more  than 
thirty  years,  and  felt  themselves  quite  too  far  advanced  to  seek 
a  new  home,  were  suffering  under  the  apprehension  that  they 
too  might,  in  some  way,  have  involuntarily  incurred  the  land- 
lord's displeasure,  and  might  be  turned  out  of  their  homes  like- 
wise ;  and  the  woman  said  that  her  husband,  through  fear  of 
such  an  event,  "  had  had  no  sleep  for  several  nights."  In  another 
house,  which  we  visited,  we  found  the  woman  of  the  house  had 
just  returned  from  attending  the  accouchement  of  a  neighbor,  the 
wife  of  a  laboring  man  ;  and  she  told  us  that  when  she  an- 
lounced  to  the  father  the  birth  of  twins,  he  received  the  intelli- 
gence with  sadness,  and  replied,  that  "  it  would  have  been  a 
kinder  act  if  Heaven  had  been  pleased  to  have  taken  them  both 
away."  Where  honest  and  laborious  people,  in  advanced  age, 
feel  constantly  that  they  may  be  turned  adrift,  at  the  caprice  of 
their  landlord,  from  the  home  of  their  youth,  and  where  a  father 
regards  the  birth  of  a  child  as  a  curse,  the  benevolent  mind  sees 
evils  in  the  condition,  which  it  must  lament  if  it  cannot  remedy, 
and  which  it  must  lament  the  more,  in  proportion,  as  all  remedy 
seems  hopeless.  The  landlord  in  this  case,  as  I  am  persuaded, 
was  incapable  of  committing,  knowingly,  any  act  of  injustice  or 
unkindness ;  but  it  is  obvious  to  what  abuses  such  a  power  is 
liable,  and  to  what  evils  a  relation  of  such  servile  and  abject 
dependence  may  subject  one. 

In  the  present  condition  of  society  in  England,  no  material 
alteration,  however,  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  position  of  the 
laboring  classes.  Their  lot  seems  to  be  sealed,  and  they  must 
remain  in  this  condition  of  servility  and  dependence.  They 
cannot  rise  above  it.  They  are  not  slaves ;  but  they  are  not 
free.  Liberty  and  independence,  to  them,  are  words  without 
meaning.  They  have  no  chains  upon  their  hands,  but  the  iron 
<jnters  into  their  souls.  Their  limbs  may  be  unshackled,  but 
their  spirits  are  bound. 

At  the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Northamptonshire  Agricul- 
tural Society,  several  aged  and  respectable  laborers  were  called 
in  and  advanced  to  the  upper  table  to  receive  the  premiums  for 
good  conduct,  ''  which  they  had  merited,"  in  the  terms  of  the 
6* 


66  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

report,  '•  by  many  year:^  of  faithful  servitude.^^  I  confess,  as  I 
said  on  the  occasion  to  the  noble  president,  this  term  sounded 
harshly  to  my  ear,  and  the  more,  if  it  expressed  their  true  con- 
dition. Go  where  they  will,  the  same  barriers  impede  their 
advance  ;  and  if  the  ambition  of  wealth,  or  rank,  or  influence, 
of  which  they  see  such  glittering  examples  continually  passing 
before  them,  should  ever  dawn  in  their  minds,  it  would  kindle 
only  to  be  extinguished  under  inexorable  circumstances. 

There  are  persons  who  see  in  this  condition  no  evil  nor  hard- 
ship. I  am  not  about  to  expatiate  upon  its  evils  or  hardships, 
if  evils  or  hardships  there  be  in  it.  If,  in  the  present  condition 
of  society,  pecuniary  gain  is  to  be  the  only  worthy  object  of 
pursuit,  and  a  pecuniary  standard  the  only  rule  by  which  the 
goods  of  life  are  to  be  measured,  and  the  human  frame  is  to  be 
regarded  as  only  so  much  organized  flesh  and  bone  to  be  worked 
np  at  our  pleasure  into  the  means  of  wealth  and  luxury,  then 
the  improvement  of  the  character  and  condition  of  the  laboring 
classes  is  not  a  subject  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  political 
economist,  excepting  so  far  as  the  perfection  of  the  machine  may 
conduce  to  the  increased  amount  of  the  work  to  be  accomplished 
by  it.  But,  if  a  better  rule  is  to  prevail,  and  men  are  to  feel 
their  moral  responsibility  to  each  other,  and  the  physical  comfort 
of  those  by  whose  toil  we  live,  and  the  moral  improvement  of 
those  upon  whom,  as  well  as  upon  their  more  favored  brethren, 
God  has  equally  impressed  his  own  moral  image,  are  to  be  cared 
for,  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes  deserves  the  most  serious 
attention  and  the  most  cordial  interest  of  every  man  who  has  a 
spark  of  patriotism,  public  spirit,  or  philanthropy  in  his  bosom. 

This  attention  is  now  given,  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
by  many  persons  of  distinguished  benevolence  and  active  useful- 
ness, who  know  no  higher  pursuit,  and  find  no  richer  pleasure, 
than  in  doing  good.  They  are  not  willing,  while  they  enjoy  the 
loaf,  to  put  their  laborers  ofl"  with  merely  the  under  crust,  and 
not  always  enough  of  that. 

The  census  of  Great  Britain  reports  the  number  of  laborers 
employed  in  agriculture  at  887,167,  and  these,  with  their  fami- 
lies, compose  a  population  of  not  less  than  3,500,000,  or  one  fifth 
of  the  whole  population  of  the  kingdom.  The  wages  of  labor, 
according  to  the  reports  of  the  committees  of  Parliament,  vary, 
in  different  counties,  from  7  s.  sterling  to  12  s.  per  week ;  and  the 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  67 

rent  of  their  cottages  may  be  said  to  average  about  1  s.  6  d.  ster- 
ling per  week,  or  £3  18  s.  per  year.*  It  may  interest  some  of 
my  American  readers  to  learn  the  expense  of  some  of  the  families 
of  the  cottagers,  as  they  are  given  from  authentic  sources,  as 
below:  — 

•'  H.  Sopp,  laborer,  has  a  wife  and  four  children  ;  earns  9  s.  6  d. 
a  week ;  spends  7  s.  2  d.  in  flour  and  yeast ;  has  been  without 
tea,  cheese,  butter,  soap,  firing  and  candles,  clothes  and  beer,  for 
three  months." 

" Slements,  laborer,  has  a  wife  and  four  children  ;  earns 

lis.  6d.  per  week ;  spends  7  s.  3d.  in  flour  and  yeast." 

" PuUen,  laborer,  has  a  wife  and  six  children  ;  wages  lis. 

6  d.  ;  flour  and  yeast,  9  s.  7  d." 

I  shall  quote,  further,  the  actual  expenses  of  a  laboring  man 
with  a  wife  and  six  children,  in  March,  1841  -,  and  "  this  will 
afford  an  average  view  of  the  manner  of  living  of  the  agricultural 
population  of  the  southern  and  midland  counties  of  England." 

6  gallons  of  flour,     .     . 8  s.  0  d. 

Yeast, 0     3 

1  lb.  of  meat,  and  i  lb.  of  suet, 0     8 

1  lb.  of  butter, 10 

1  lb.  of  cheese, 0     6 

i  lb.  of  candles, 0     3J 

Jib.  of  soap, 0     3J 

Potatoes, 10 

Worsted,  starch,  cotton,  and  tape,  ....  0     3 

Total,     ....  12     3 

"  This  leaves  nothing  for  rent,  clothing,  education,  or  any 
other  expenses,  the  only  fund  for  defraying  which  consists  of 
the  extra  earnings  during  harvest-time,  a  resource  which,  in  many 
parts  of  England,  is  greatly  limited  by  the  periodical  influx  of 
Irish  laborers.  It  is  obvious,  from  a  glance  at  this  statement, 
that  the  bulk  of  agricultural  laborers  in  the  country  are,  at  the 
best,  just  able  to  struggle  on  from  hand  to  mouth,  and  that  any 
suspension  of  employment,  rise  in  the  price  of  provisions,  or 

*  One  shilling  sterling  may  be  reckoned  at  24  cents  4  mills  ;  when  a  sover 
eign,  as  now,  is  estimated  at  $4.88. 


68  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

unforeseen  casualty,  must,  of  necessity,  compel  them  to  resort  to 
charity,  or  to  descend  to  a  coarser  diet,  and  exchange  the  habits 
of  an  English  for  those  of  an  Irish  peasant."  * 


*  The  condition  of  living  among  the  poor  agricultural  laborers  may,  perhaps^ 
find  some  strong  ilkistrations  in  the  subjoined  note,  which  is  for  those  only  to 
read  who  take  an  interest  in  so  humble  a  subject :  — 

"  A  poor  man  can  seldom  afford  to  purchase  even  the  coarsest  joint  of  mutton ; 
but  if  he  lives  near  a  town,  he  can  often  get  the  sheap's  head  and  plitck  for  less 
than  1  s.  6  d.,  indeed  very  frequently  for  a  shilling ;  and  with  these  his  wife  can 
make  up  four  hot  meals.  These  substantial  and  truly  savory  meals  may  be  eaten 
with  potatoes  only,  as  bread  is  not  necessary. 

"  No  instruction  is  necessary  for  the  making  of  pies  and  puddings,"  (that  is, 
because  the  laborer  is  never  expected  to  have  them,)  "  whether  of  fruit  or  meat ; 
but  we  may  just  remark  that  a  meat-pudding  (when  a  laborer  can  afford  it)  is  one 
of  the  most  substantial  and  savory  dishes  that  can  be  brought  to  a  hungry  man's 
table ;  and  if,  instead  of  putting  pie-crust  over  the  moat,  you  cover  it  with  mashed 
potatoes,  and  put  it  either  into  the  oven  or  bake  it  by  the  side  of  the  fire,  it 
will  answer  quite  as  well  as  paste.  In  Cornwall,  there  is  a  common  practice, 
among  those  cottagers  who  bake  at  home,  of  making  little  pasties  for  the  din- 
ners of  those  who  may  be  working  at  a  distance  in  the  fields.  They  will  last 
the  whole  M^eek,  and  are  made  of  any  kind  of  meat  or  fruit,  rolled  up  in  a  paste 
made  of  flour  and  suet  or  lard.  A  couple  of  ounces  of  bacon,  and  i  lb.  of  raw 
potatoes,  both  thinly  sliced  and  slightly  seasoned,  will  be  found  sufficient  for  the 
meal ;  the  pasty  can  be  carried  in  the  man's  pocket,  but  it  costs  4  d.,  aa 
thus :  — 

i  lb.  of  flour, Id. 

Suet  or  lard, Id. 

Potatoes, Oi  d. 

i  Ih.  of  bacon, 1|  d. 

"  Oatmeal  is  a  frequent  diet  of  the  Scotch  and  Irish  peasantry.  The  prepara- 
tion is  simply  to  put  a  handful  at  a  time  gradually  into  a  pot  of  warm  water,  and 
a  little  salt,  simmering  it  over  the  fire  and  keeping  it  stirred  with  the  other  hand, 
until  it  becomes  as  thick  as  a  pudding ;  or  in  about  ten  minutes  time.  It  may 
then  be  eaten  with  a  little  treacle,  or  with  a  piece  of  butter  put  into  the  centre  ; 
but  the  better  way  is  to  eat  it  with  cold  milk,  taking  a  spoonful  of  the  stirabout 
with  a  mouthful  of  the  milk ;  for  if  boiled  in  milk,  it  is  not  near  so  good.  Fine 
meal  does  not  answer  the  purpose,  and  the  coarse  ground  '  Scotch  oatmeal '  is 
tlie  best.  Now,  about  half  a  pound  of  this,  along  with  three  pints  of  milk,  will 
make  a  substantial  and  a  very  wholesome  breakfast  or  supper  for  the  family.  It  is 
indeed  a  hearty  food ;  and  the  cottager,  who  seeks  to  support  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren both  frugally  and  healthfully,  should  never  be  without  it.  The  price  in 
London  is  4  d.  per  quart,  and  the  quart  weighs  nearly  1|  lb. ;  so,  supposing  the 
milk  to  be  bought  at  1  d.  the  quart,  three  good  meals  can  thus  be  got  for  8^  d. 

"  Potatoes  will  ever  be  the  peasant's  standard  vegetable ;  for,  if  of  good  mealy 
quality,  they  contain  more  nutriment  than  any  other  root ;   and  three  or  four 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  69 

The  following  was  given  me  as  the  wages  paid  on  a  farm 
in   Lincolnshire,    where   the    wages   are   more   liberal    than    in 


pounds  are  equal  in  point  of  nourishment  to  a  pound  of  the  best  wheaten  bread, 
besides  having  the  great  advantage  of  better  JUling  the  stomach. 

"  The  liquor  in  which  any  meat  is  boiled  should  always  be  saved  for  the  mak- 
ing of  soup,  and  the  bones  even  offish  should  also  be  preserved ;  for  although  quite  bare 
of  meat  J  yet  if  stewed  down  for  several  hours,  they  will  yield  a  species  of  broth, 
which,  along  with  peas  or  oatmeal,  will  make  good  soup.  A  lot  of  bones  may 
always  be  got  from  the  butchers'  for  twopence,  and  they  are  never  scraped  so 
clean  as  not  to  have  some  scraps  of  meat  adhering  to  them. 

"  This  done,  the  bones  are  to  be  again  boiled  in  the  same  manner,  but  for  a 
longer  time,  and  the  broth  may  be  made  the  next  day  into  a  stew  with  rice. 

"  Nor  is  this  all ;  for  the  bones,  if  again  boiled  for  a  still  longer  time,  will  once 
more  yield  a  nourishing  broth,  which  may  be  made  into  pea-soup  ;  and  when 
thus  done  with  ( ! )"  (for,  alas !  every  thing  mortal  has  an  end)  "  may  either  be 
sold  to  the  crusher,  or  pounded  by  yourself,  and  used  as  manure  for  your  garden." 

These  directions  are  extracted  from  a  Treatise,  of  which  I  do  not  question  the 
utility,  on  Cottage  Economy,  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural 
Society,  and  which  certainly  contains  many  valuable  suggestions  for  the  poor 
cottager.  The  perfect  coolness  and  calm  philosophy,  however,  with  which  the 
writer  descants  upon  a  single  sheep's  head  and  pluck  making  four  savory  din- 
ners for  a  family  ;  and  a  pasty  made  of  any  kind  of  meat  or  fruit  rolled  up  in 
flour  and  lard,  with  a  couple  of  ounces  of  bacon,  and  half  a  pound  of  raw  pota- 
toes thinly  sliced,  and  slightly  seasoned,  carried  in  a  man's  pocket  when  lie  goes 
to  work  a  good  distance  from  home,  being  ample  for  his  dinner ;  and  upon  pota- 
toes having  the  great  advantage  over  bread  of  better  filling  the  stomach ;  and  the 
advice  respecting  the  cooking  of  the  same  bones  again  and  again,  three  succes- 
sive days,  make  one  think,  to  use  Burke's  expression,  "  that  the  Norfolk  Squares 
must  have  dined"  before  they  could  have  attained  this  high  degree  of  phi- 
losophy. 

The  directions  for  eating  the  stirabout  or  oatmeal  porridge  seem  likewise 
very  kindly  given  to  those  who  appear  to  have  so  little  use  for  their  mouths  as 
hardly  to  know  the  way  to  tliem.  "  The  better  way  is  to  eat  it  with  cold  milk, 
taking  a  spoonful  of  the  stirabout  with  a  mouthful  of  the  milk." 

The  contrasts  constantly  presenting  themselves  in  human  life  are  often  strik- 
ing and  instructive ;  and  it  may  not  be  without  its  moral  use  if,  Avith  the  labor- 
er's "  savory  "  viands,  his  sheep's  head  and  pluck,  his  cold  pasty,  and  his  bpnes 
boiled  three  times  over,  together  with  the  wholesome  advice,  given  in  the  same 
treatise,  "  to  pinch  and  screw  the  family  even  in  Uie  commonest  necessaries,"  until 
he  get  a  week's  wages  beforehand,  that  he  may  not  run  in  debt,  (query,  what  in 
the  name  of  humanity  does  ^^ pinching  and  screioing"  mean  in  this  case,  unless 
it  be  to  boil  the  bones  again  after  they  are  pounded  ?)  we  compare  the  bill  of 
fare  at  the  dinner  given  to  the  council  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  by  the 
mayor  in  behalf  of  the  city  of  Derby,  at  the  late  agricultural  show,  holden  in 
July,  1843,  in  that  hospitable  town.  This  bill,  as  well  it  may  be,  is  printed  on 
blue  satin  paper,  in  letters  of  gold,  in  keeping  with  the  banquet 


70 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


many  places,  and  the  farming  of  the  highest  order  of  excel- 
lence :  — 


ROYAL  HOTEL— DERBY 
The  Mayor's  Banquet  to  the.  Royal  ^Agricultural  Council,  July  11,  1843. 

Bill  of  Fare. 


FIRST    COURSE. 

Three  turbots  and  lobster  sauce. 
Three  salmon  and  shrimp  do. 
Five  dishes  of  fiUetted  soles. 
Five  dishes  of  trout. 
Ten  tureens  of  turtle  soup. 
Eight  do.  of  green  pea  do. 
Eight  do.  of  soup  Julian. 

SECOND  COURSE. 

Four  haunches  of  venison. 

Four  necks  of  do. 

Five  couples  of  boiled  chickens. 

Four  hams. 

Three  calves'  heads,  stewed. 

Four  quarters  of  lamb. 

Four  geese.    . 

Four  veal  fricandeau  and  ragout 

Four  pigeon  pies. 

Two  rumps  of  beef,  stewed. 

Four  savory  pies. 

Five  turkey  poults. 

Five  tongues. 

Three  surloins  of  beef. 

Three  legs  of  lamb,  and  gooseberry 


Lobster  patties. 
Stewed  kidneys. 
Sweetbreads. 


Mutton  cutlets  with  tomatas. 

Veal  tendons. 

Curried  lobsters. 

Veal  cutlets  and  mushrooms. 

Curried  rabbits. 

Lamb  cutlets  and  cucumber  sauce. 

Eight  leverets. 

Eight  couples  of  ducks. 

Eight  couples  of  roast  chickens. 

Eight  plumb  puddings. 

Eighty  dishes  of  Bake  well  do. 

Eight  do.  of  apricot  do. 

Twenty  do.  of  cheese  cakes. 

Thirty  do.  of  maids  of  honor. 

Cherry  tarts,  and  currant  do. 

Jellies,  blanc  manger. 

Rhenish  cream,  &c.,  &c. 

DESSERT. 

Ices,  grapes,  peaches,  cherries. 
Nectarines,  strawberries,  raspberries, 

pines. 
Almonds  and  raisins. 
Candied  fruits. 

Damson  cheese,  Tartarian  cheese. 
Orange  marmalade. 
Preserved  ginger. 
Sponge  cakes,  pound  cakes. 
Fruit,  brandy,  wine,  biscuits,  ginger 

cakes,  &c.,  &c.,  &.c. 


Wines  at  pleasure. 

In  these  comparisons  most  certainly  I  mean  no  disrespect  to  any  human  being. 
I  myself,  with  a  large  party,  had  the  honor  to  sit  down  at  the  hospitable  and  ele- 
gant table  of  the  Mayor  of  Derby,  who,  in  company  with  many  of  the  citizens 
of  that  ancient  town,  spared  no  effort  to  make  the  visits  of  their  friends  as  agree- 


AGRICULTURAL    POPULATION.  71 

The  Foreman  — 

Has  a  house  and  garden  (about  3  roods)  rent  free ; 
He  keeps  three  young  men,  for  which  he  has  £15  a 

year  each,  £45  ; 
He  has  6  bushels  of  malt  for  each  man, 

—  1  quarter     do.    for  himself, 

—  the  best  wheat  at  48  s.  per  quarter, 
I                —     seconds     do.    at  32  s.         " 

I  —    four  pigs  kept  in  the  yard  with  his  master's. 

He  feeds  and  kills  his  own  bacon,  5 

and  has  £24  in  cash,  and  two  cows  kept.  ^ 

The  Shepherd  — 

Has  a  house  and  garden  (about  2  roods)  rent  free, 

—  2  quarters  of  wheat  at  48  s.  per  quarter, 

—  2  bushels  of  malt, 

—  a  cow  kept,  and 

—  £22  a  year  in  money. 

Four  laborers  have  the  following  yearly  wages,  from  May-day 
to  May-day :  — 

2s.  3d.  per  day,  from  May-day  to  Michaelmas, 

Is.  9  d.       "        from  Michaelmas  to  May-day, 

2  s.  3d.  per  acre  for  grass  and  clover  mowing, 

7  s.  ''        for  corn  cutting, 

16  bushels  of  wheat,  at  6  s.  per  bushel, 

1  bushel  of  malt,  without  charge, 

1  cow  kept,  do. 

able  and  comfortable  as  possible  ;  and  certainly  in  this  respect  no  persons  could 
have  succeeded  better.  Nor  am  I  disposed  to  find  fault  with  the  luxuries  with 
which  any  gentleman  or  company  are  disposed  to  entertain  their  guests.  But 
the  contrast  here  presented  between  the  condition  of  the  producer  and  the  con- 
sumer —  between  him  whose  toil  creates  the  food  and  him  who  eats  it  —  cannot 
fail  to  read  a  most  important  and  instructive  lesson.  What  its  moral  uses  are,  I 
think,  no  fair  and  reflecting  mind  will  be  at  a  loss  to  perceive.  I  shall  not, 
therefore,  as  in  iEsop's  fables,  write  the  moral  at  the  bottom,  but  I  shall  leave  the 
whole  to  my  reader,  without  note  or  comment ;  feeling  sure  that  if  it  leads  to 
no  serious  reflections,  there  must  be  a  melancholy  obtuseness  of  intellect ;  and 
if  it  stirs  no  pity  and  no  humanity  within  him,  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  all 
the  springs  are  cut  off",  and  the  well  is  utterly  dry.  Such,  alas !  are  but  too 
often,  though  not  always,  the  melancholy  effects  of  luxury  and  prosperity. 


ii 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


Each  laborer  pays  £4  4  s.  for  a  house,  and  has  about  3  roods 

of  garden.  *^'^  ^  Jiiodfi^  iuod  a  ^i;H 

It 

Calculation  of  what  each  man  receives, 

90days,  at2s.  3d., £10  2  6 

21  acres  of  grass  and  clover  mowing,  at  2  s.  3  d. .     2  7  3 

18     "     of  corn  cutting,  at  7  s.,    .     .     .  8U«opo  .     6  6  0 

172  days,  at  1  s.  9  d.,     -    ,. .  15  1  0 

Cow  keeping,  .     .     .     r  'J  rt, 8  8  0 

•^  42     4     9 

Deduct  house-rent, 4     4     0 

Net  yearly  wages, 38     0     9 

"The  English  laborer,"  says  an  assistant ' poor-law  commis- 
sioner, '•'  even  if  he  has  transcendent  abilities,  has  scarcely  any 
prospect  of  rising  in  the  world,  and  becoming  a  small  farmer. 
He  commences  his  career  as  a  weekly  laborer,  and  the  probabil- 
ity is,  that,  whatever  may  be  his  talents  and  industry,  as  a  weekly 
laborer  he  will  end  his  days."  ''  This  is  the  best  side  of  the 
picture :  what  is  the  reverse  ?  If  he  has  no  chance  of  rising  in 
the  world,  how  many  chances  has  he  of  falling  ?  If  he  is  thrown 
out  of  employment ;  if  he  has  a  large  family  of  girls  or  young 
children ;  if  he  yields  to  temptation,  and  becomes  irregular  in  his 
habits ;  what  is  to  become  of  him  ?  The  answer  is  obvious : 
for  a  time  he  will  be  assisted  by  casual  charity,  and  struggle  on 
against  extreme  privations ;  but  if  the  causes  of  distress  continue, 
one  or  other  of  two  things  will  be  his  final  lot  —  he  will  either 
be  enrolled  among  the  1,072,978  paupers  receiving  parish  relief 
under  the  new  poor  law  ;  or  he  will  be  starved  out  of  the  coun- 
try into  some  large  town,  and  absorbed  in  the  floating  population 
who  tenant  the  cellars  and  lodging-houses,  and  live  by  the  worst- 
paid  description  of  manufacturing  industry,  or  by  thieving,  pros- 
titution, and  casual  employment."  * 

As  I  have  before  remarked,  it  is  much  more  easy  to  point  out 
and  deplore  an  evil,  than  it  is  to  suggest  a  remedy.  A  republican 
would  say  that  the  evil  is  fundamental,  and  grows  out  of  a  con- 
stitution of  society  establishing  different  ranks,  the  appropriation 

*  Laing's  Prize  Address. 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  7^ 

of  the  land  in  a  few  hands,  the  high  price  of  land,  the  depressing 
sense  of  dependence,  and  the  hopelessness  of  competition  and  of 
all  attempts  to  acquire  influence,  respect,  or  wealth,  incidental 
to,  and  inseparable  from,  such  a  framework  of  society.  Persons 
born  to  affluence  and  distinction,  and  persons  who  have  never 
felt  their  efforts  checked  or  suppressed  by  a  sense  of  a  depend- 
ence which  they  cannot  escape,  can  very  imperfectly  estimate 
the  effect  of  these  circumstances  upon  character.  But  whether 
desirable  or  not  —  and,  in  this  matter,  I  would  leave  every  man 
to  the  enjoyment  of  his  own  honest  opinion  — as  all  expectation 
of  a  change  in  the  constitution  of  English  society  seems  as  vain 
as  to  expect  to  reduce  the  inequalities  of  the  surface  of  the  coun- 
try to  a  common  level  —  it  only  remains  to  consider  what  alle- 
viations of  the  evils  of  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes  can 
be  successfully  attempted.  The  inquiry  is  one  which  most 
deeply  concerns  religion  and  humanity.  It  is  only  just  likewise  to 
remark,  — and  I  do  it  with  the  highest  pleasure,  —  that  the  subject 
is  now  interesting  innumerable  benevolent  persons  in  the  highest 
ranks  and  in  the  middle  conditions  of  life,  to  a  degree  perhaps 
never  before  known ;  and  that  many  of  the  brightest  minds  are 
now  concentrating  their  energies  upon  its  investigation  and  cure. 
It  is  with  equal  pleasure  that  I  can  say,  that  I  have  found  among 
many  of  the  landlords  the  most  watchful  attention  to  the  welfare 
of  their  laborers,  and  every  kind  provision  for  them  in  sickness, 
decay,  or  misfortune.  Alas  !  that  there  are  so  many  who  do 
not  come  within  the  reach  of  this  provision,  and  so  many  who 
refuse  or  neglect  to  make  it. 


XIII.  — ALLOTMENT  SYSTEM. 

That  which  seems  to  be  admitted  on  almost  all  hands  to  have 
operated  to  the  most  advantage,  is  what  is  termed  the  allotment 
system.  In  this  case,  the  laborer  hires  of  the  landlord  a  small 
piece  of  land,  —  and  it  is  generally  limited  to  one  quarter  of  an 
acre,  and  seldom  exceeds  half  an  acre, — for  which  he  pays  such 
a  rent  as  may  be  agreed  upon  ;  and  he  and  his  family  cultivate  it 
7 


74  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

ill  their  spare  time,  either  before  going  to  work  or  after  having 
returned  from  their  day's  work.  The  manner  in  which  this 
land  shall  be  appropriated  is  generally  determined  or  prescribed 
by  the  landlord  ;  though,  in  some  cases,  it  remains  optional  with 
the  laborer.  These  small  lots  of  land,  though  generally  leased  at 
a  moderate  rent,  —  in  some  cases,  as  at  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's 
village  of  Edensor,  at  a  rent  merely  nominal,  —  bring  at  the  rate 
of  from  one  pound  to  eight  pounds  an  acre,  though,  in  the  latter 
case,  the  land  generally  lies  contiguous  to  some  large  manufac- 
turing town,  where  the  laborer  finds  an  opportunity  of  disposing 
of  many  small  products  at  a  high  price.  In  general,  the  land  so 
taken,  exclusive  of  some  few  garden  vegetables  for  daily  use,  is 
applied  to  the  growing  of  potatoes  and  wheat,  and  alternated 
with  these  two  crops. 

The  eflfect  of  these  allotments  upon  the  character  of  the  occu- 
pant is  quite  remarkable.  He  becomes  himself,  for  the  timo 
being,  an  owner  of  the  soil  j  he  has  a  feeling  of  independence 
which  nothing  else  can  give,  and  which  at  once  exalts  his  char- 
acter. He  is  able  to  avail  himself  to  advantage  of  the  labor  of 
his  wife  and  children,  who  in  some  cases  perform  most  of  the 
work  on  the  ground  in  hours  which  would  otherwise  be  wasted 
or  misappropriated.  His  ground  yields  him  a  large  supply  of 
vegetables  for  his  family,  and  enables  him  to  keep  and  fatten  a 
pig  or  two,  and  likewise  some  poultry,  which  very  much  conduce 
to  his  comfort,  and  that  of  his  family.  The  cultivation  of  his 
ground  likewise  occupies  hours  which  might  otherwise  be  spent 
in  the  drinking-house,  where  nothing  good  is  to  be  learned,  and 
where  the  foundation-  of  the  ruin  of  many  a  laborer  is  laid  ;  and 
the  ruin  of  his  family  follows  generally,  as  matter  of  course. 
Besides  these  advantages  from  the  allotment  system,  his  youngest 
children  are  here  early  trained  to  habits  of  industry  and  care- 
fulness. 

The  mere  keeping  of  a  pig  in  such  cases  is  a  matter  of  serious 
profit,  and  not  of  that  only,  but  of  pleasure  ;  and  I  have  been  so 
much  struck  with  the  remarks  of  one  of  the  commissioners  on 
this  subject,  that  I  transcribe  them  for  the  gratification  of  my 
readers :  — 

''  Of  such  a  pig,  the  first  product  of  allotment,  garden  or  potato 
headland,  it  is  the  fashion  among  political  economists  to  speak 
disrespectfully.     Now,  whatever  might  be  the  superior  profit,  to 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  75 

the  cottager,  of  saving  the  money  which  he  spends  on  his  pigs 
and  buying  his  bacon  in  the  market,  this,  as  it  never  has  been, 
and  never  will  be  so  saved,  we  may  dismiss.  In  the  mean  time, 
his  pig,  besides  its  usefulness,  is  also  a  real  pleasure  to  him ;  it  is 
one  of  his  principal  interests  in  life  ;  he  makes  sacrifices  to  it ; 
he  exercises  self-control  for  its  sake  ;  it  prevents  him  living  from 
hand  to  mouth,  stupidly  careless  of  the  future.  I  am  persuaded 
that  a  greater  act  of  cruelty  could  hardly  be  perpetrated,  than  the 
discountenancing  this  practice,  or  rather  amusement  and  enjoy- 
ment, among  the  poor."  * 

So  much  for  the  moral  effects  of  this  simple  matter  of  the  poor 
man's  keeping  a  pig,  in  which  I  perfectly  agree  with  the  writer, 
and  honor  the  benevolence  which  discerns,  even  in  these  humble 
matters,  a  moral  utility.  It  is  difficult  to  say,  why,  when  the 
rich  man  finds  his  pleasure  in  his  hunters,  his  dogs,  his  game,  his 
menageries,  and  aviaries,  the  poor  man  should  not  have  his 
pleasure  in  his  pig  ;  an  animal,  indeed,  not  always  of  the  most 
agreeable  endowments,  nor  of  very  refined  manners,  but  yet  in 
temper  and  manner  susceptible  of  a  considerable  improvement  by 
education,  and  entitled  to  no  small  respect  for  his  usefulness, 
since  if  his  master  feeds  him  when  living,  he  returns  the  kindness, 
when  dead,  by  feeding  his  master ;  a  merit  which  cannot  be 
ascribed  to  some  other  domestic  pets  far  more  expensively  cher- 
ished and  caressed. 

Too  much  indeed  cannot  be  said  in  favor  of  the  allotment 
system,  of  its  justice,  its  humanity,  and  its  usefulness.  Its  influ- 
ence upon  the  happiness  of  the  poor,  and  its  moral  tendencies  — 
its  tendency  to  prevent  idleness  and  dissipation,  and  to  produce 
sobriety,  industry,  and  frugality,  and  especially  to  keep  men  at 
home,  and  attach  them  to  their  homes,  most  strongly  recommend 
it.  Many  facts  prove  that  the  laborers  in  some  instances  pay 
full  double  the  ordinary  rent  of  the  land,  and  find  their  account 
in  it.  In  most  cases,  however,  the  lease  of  a  farmer  forbids  his 
under-letting  any  portion  of  his  land ;  and  allotments  can  only 
be  granted  under  special  agreement,  or  by  the  particular  consent 
of  the  landlord.  This  is  not  always  to  be  procured ;  nor  is  it 
always  without  strong  opposition  from  the  farmers  themselves. 

It  will  perhaps  be  asked,  by  some  of  my  readers,  why  do  I 

*  Sir  H.  Doyle's  Report  on  Employment  of  Women  and  Children,  p.  295. 


76  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

enter  so  fully  into  the  condition  of  the  rural  population  in  Eng- 
land, when  we  have  nothing  which  bears  a  resemblance  to  it  in 
the  United  States.  This  latter  is  one  of  the  very  reasons  why 
I  do  it;  but  I  hope  that  others  will  present  themselves,  upon 
reflection,  which  will  at  least  excuse,  if  not  justify  me.  I  may 
as  well  give  some  of  those  reasons  in  this  place ;  then,  perhaps, 
I  may  be  heard  with  more  patience. 

I  have  promised  my  friends  here,  and  in  the  United  States, 
that  they  shall  have  my  honest  impressions  of  whatever  comes 
under  my  observation  connected  with  agricultural  and  rural 
affairs,  and  the  condition  of  the  rural  population.  In  the  next 
place,  I  see  in  the  list  of  my  subscribers  the  names  of  many,  who 
will  take  a  much  stronger  interest  in  such  views,  than  in  details 
of  crops,  accounts  of  live  stock,  and  the  practical  operations  of 
husbandry,  which  I  shall  go  into  at  large  in  the  course  of  my 
reports  ;  certainly  I  am  bound  to  consult,  in  some  measure,  their 
tastes.  In  the  next  place,  we  shall  find  in  the  management  of 
small  farms  and  small  allotments,  examples  of  successful  culti- 
vation, which  cannot  be  without  their  use  and  application  to 
farming  on  a  much  more  extended  scale.  Lastly,  I  cannot  think 
it  will  be  without  its  use  to  compare  the  condition  of  a  laborer, 
where  to  him  land,  under  the  present  condition  of  things,  is  unat- 
tainable, and  labor  superabundant,  with  a  condition  of  labor 
where,  as  in  the  free  states,  every  industrious  man  can  have  land 
of  the  most  fertile  and  productive  character  almost  at  his  pleasure, 
and  where  the  price  of  land  places  it  within  reach  of  his  labor  ; 
where  every  man  may  have  his  home,  and  sit  down  quietly 
without  the  apprehension  of  removal ;  where  it  is  not  a  necessary 
study  with  him  how  often  he  may  have  meat,  or  how  many 
days  in  the  week  he  may  have  bread ;  but  where,  with  industry, 
sobriety,  and  frugality,  he  may  always  have  more  meat  and  more 
bread  than  he  requires,  and  something  for  the  poor  and.  the 
stranger. 

I  shall  take  the  liberty  here  of  inserting  an  account,  sent  me 
by  a  kind  friend,  of  the  working  of  the  allotment  system  in  a 
village  within  his  neighborhood  —  I  believe  in  Lincolnshire.  It 
is  an  interesting  and  instructive  account.  His  opinions  respect- 
ing the  size  of  farms  must  rest  upon  his  own  responsibility.  I 
neither  endorse  nor  deny  them.  On  the  subject  of  the  size  of 
farms  I  shall  speak  at  large  when  my  views  have  become  matured 
by  further  observation. 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  77 

"  Scampton  is  the  property  of  a  gentleman  (Sir  George  Cay- 
ley,  Bart.)  of  liberal  views  and  enlarged  benevolence.  One  of 
his  first  movements,  upon  succeeding  to  the  estate  some  thirty 
years  ago,  was  to  provide  for  the  comfort  of  those  who,  under  his 
superior  tenants,  were  to  be  the  immediate  laborers  upon  his  land. 

"  To  fourteen  cottages  allotments  of  land  were  made.  A 
field  of  sixteen  acres  was  set  apart  as  pasturage,  that  each  cot- 
tager might  keep  a  cow  ,•  and  another  field  of  twenty-six  acres 
was  appropriated  as  mowing  ground,  that  all  might  be  provided 
with  fodder  for  the  winter.  Each  cottage  had  an  acre  of  tillage 
land  allotted  to  it  in  the  field,  and  something  like  another  half 
acre  as  garden  ground,  around  its  little  homestead. 

"  A  cow  club,  or  insurance,  was  established,  to  enable  those 
cottagers  who  lost  a  cow  by  casualty,  to  replace  her  immedi- 
ately, and  without  loss  of  time. 

"  In  the  spring  of  the  year,  the  cows  are  valued  by  a  compe- 
tent and  disinterested  person.  Each  cottager  pays  sixpence  in 
the  pound  on  the  value  of  his  cow.  Cows  above  fourteen  years 
of  age  are  not  insurable.  If  a  cow  dies  within  the  year,  the 
owner  receives  three  fourths  of  her  value.  The  dead  cow  is  the 
property  of  the  club. 

"Sixpence  in  the  pound,  annually,  has  actually  covered,  to 
three  fourths  of  the  value,  all  casualUes  upon  a  run  of  twenty 
years.  ..    f 

"  Under  the  inspection  of  a  shrewd  and  spirited  agent,  the 
whole  affair  has  worked  to  admiration,  and  been  productive  of 
peace  and  plenty  amidst  the  little  community  whose  happiness  it 
was  designed  to  promote.  No  burning  of  stacks  here,  because 
every  man  has  one  of  his  own.  No  invasion  of  the  rights  of 
property,  because  every  man  is  a  possessor  of  property,  and 
anxious  to  guaranty  his  neighbor's  rights,  that  he  may  hold  his 
own  in  the  better  security. 

"  The  rent  that  each  cottager  pays  is  something  less  than  £10 
per  annum.  The  produce  that  is  yielded,  much  to  the  credit  of 
the  humble  cultivators,  is  abundantly  ample  to  cover  the  out- 
goings, and  leaves  a  surplus  that  makes  them  comfortable. 

"The   acre  of  tillage  land  is  remarkably  productive.     It  is 

divided  into  two  allotments :  half  an  acre  is  in  wheat,  the  other 

half  in  potatoes ;  alternating  the  crops,  of  course,  every  year. 

On  this  short  rotation,  the  land  has  not  suffered,  but  actually 

7* 


78  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

increased  in  fertility/.  For  the  last  ten  years,  the  crops  of  wheat 
have  yielded  twenty  bushels  to  the  half  acre.  The  twenty 
years  preceding,  eighteen  bushels  was  the  average.  Instances 
of  twenty-seven  bushels  to  the  half  acre  have  been  known. 
The  half  acre  of  potatoes,  with  others  grown  in  the  garden,  are 
usually  fed  to  pigs,  and  instances  have  been  known  where  the 
cottager  has  sold  twenty  pounds  worth  of  pigs  and  well  supplied 
his  own  family  with  bacon.  It  is  common  for  them  to  sell  from 
ten  to  twenty  pounds  worth  of  pigs,  or  pork,  per  annum,  and 
still  keep  a  good  supply  for  family  use.  Some  of  the  cottagers, 
who  have  been  blessed  with  careful  wives  and  good  cows,  have 
sent  twelve  pounds  of  butter,  per  week,  to  market,  during  all  the 
flush  of  the  feed. 

'^  It  must  be  understood,  that  while  the  cottager's  allotment 
of  land  is  thus  multiplying  his  comforts,  he  has  a  constant  sup- 
ply of  work,  and  current  wages,  from  the  neighboring  farmers. 
His  own  farming  is  done  after  his  master's  day's  work  is  com- 
pleted, with  perchance  a  day  now  and  then,  as  at  seed-time  and 
harvest. 

"  Happy,  comfortable,  and  superior  in  condition,  as  these  cot- 
tagers appear,  yet  the  system  that  makes  them  so  has  often  been 
called  in  question.  It  has  been  observed,  that  the  children  of 
cottagers,  thus  happily  situated,  are  not  over  anxious  to  go  to 
service,  and  not  over  apt  to  keep  their  places  when  they  do  go. 
There  appears  a  latent  consciousness  about  them  that  the  house 
of  their  parents  is  well  supplied  with  bread  and  bacon. 

"  Perhaps  the  evil,  if  it  be  one,  has  a  deeper  origin  than  at 
first  sight  appears.  May  it  not  be  traceable  to  our  social  system, 
the  genius  of  which  delights  to  keep  property  in  large  masses, 
under  great  proprietors  ?  These  proprietors  have  a  similar  predi- 
lection for  large  divisions  of  their  property  —  large  farms,  and 
men  of  large  capital  to  work  them.  All  this  may  be  well  — 
very  well  suited  to  the  cast-iron  consciences  of  the  political 
economists;  but  it  creates  a  chasm  between  the  large  farmer  — 
the  farmer  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  with  a  capital  of 
twenty-five  hundred  pounds,  and  the  mere  laboring  cottager. 
The  latter  can  never  hope  to  pass  so  great  a  void.  There  are  no 
intermediate  resting-places.  There  are  no  farms  of  twenty, 
fifty,  or  a  hundred  acres,  to  which  the  successful  and  deserving 
cottager  can  be  promoted.     The  steps  of  the  ladder  are  out. 


,^^  ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  79 

Having  obtained  the  rare  blessing  of  a  cottage  allotment,  the 
language  of  his  heart  is,  '  Let  us  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry,  for  in 
our  present  condition  we  must  die.'  His  highest  ambition 
being  achieved,  and  the  family  little  more  to  hope  for,  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  some  little  laxity  should  be  observable.  Let 
the  great  landlords  of  the  land  supply  a  motive  by  a  more 
natural  division  of  their  property  —  let  them  encourage  the  aspi- 
rations of  the  industrious  cottagers  by  small  farms  in  prospective, 
and  larger  beyond  them,  and  the  energies  of  our  peasantry  will 
never  be  found  to  flag.  But  this  is,  perhaps,  scarcely  to  be 
hoped  for." 

I  shall  go  still  more  largely  into  the  subject  of  allotments,  as 
presenting  one  of  the  first  and  most  efficient  means  of  bettering 
the  condition  of  the  agricultural  laborer.  My  own  convictions 
are  strong  on  this  point ;  and  they  are  sustained  and  strength- 
ened by  the  testimony  of  many  men  of  large  experience  and 
shrewd  observation.  The  laborer  finds,  in  an  allotment,  a  means 
of  turning  his  spare  hours  to  advantage,  and  in  a  mode  of  labor 
which,  from  its  very  character,  being  in  the  association  of  his  wife 
and  children,  under  his  own  control  and  management,  and  for  his 
own  immediate  and  personal  benefit,  becomes  a  pleasure  instead 
of  a  toil.  He  finds  in  it  the  means  of  eking  out  his  scanty 
wages ;  of  providing,  to  a  degree,  for  an  occasion  of  sickness,  or 
other  suspension  of  his  employment  and  wages.  He  is  enabled 
to  bring  from  this  source  many  rare  comforts  to  his  own  frugal 
table;  and  has  himself,  if  he  is  a  man  of  feeling,  —  and  why 
should  he  not  be?  —  an  opportunity  of  enjoying  one  of  the 
richest  of  all  pleasures,  —  that  of  making  a  small  contribution  to 
relieve  an  unfortunate  or  a  sick  neighbor.  It  presents  a  good 
school  of  industry  for  his  children,  under  his  own  immediate 
inspection.  It  quickens  his  own  intelligence  in  making  agricul- 
tural experiments  upon  a  small  and  useful  scale,  and  rouses  a 
spirit  of  wholesome  emulation  in  his  crops  even  with  the  master 
farmers.  It  removes  him  from  strong  temptations  to  gambling, 
low  dissipation,  and  intemperance.  It  gives  him  an  interest  in 
the  soil ;  it  attaches  him  to  his  home ;  it  involves  him  in  all  the 
risks  of  the  public  safety ;  and  makes  him  the  friend  of  public 
peace  and  order.  It  gives  him  the  spirit  of  a  man,  raising  him 
above  the  sense  of  slavish  dependence,  and  the  dread  of  becom- 
ing a  pensioner  on  public  charity.     In  so  doing,  it  at  once  exalts 


80  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

him  in  the  community ;  induces  a  most  wholesome  self-respect ; 
inspires  a  just  regard  for  the  rights  of  property  ;  attaches  him  the 
more  strongly  to  his  superior,  who  thus  shows  his  willingness 
that  he  should  walk  erect  instead  of  keeping  him  upon  the 
ground  with  his  foot  upon  his  neck  ;  and  presents  innumerable, 
constant,  and  powerful  motives  to  improvement  and  good  con- 
duct. I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  convey  to  those,  who  have 
been  born  to  affluence,  rank,  and  authority,  the  force  of  these 
sentiments  upon  minds  altogether  differently  circumstanced  from 
themselves ;  but  I  know  it  would  be  difficult  —  I  fear  it  might 
be  impossible.  A  consciousness  of  absolute  dependence,  so  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  be  engrafted  in  the  human  mind,  seems 
indispensable  to  teach  us  our  duty  either  to  man  or  God. 

That  the  whole  of  this  subject  has  an  important  bearing  in  its 
economical  and  moral  aspects  upon  my  own  country  cannot,  I 
think,  be  overlooked  by  a  reflecting  mind  j  and,  in  the  course 
of  my  reports,  will,  I  trust,  be  made  more  fully  apparent. 


^ 


l^^-'-'^ 


1 


>" 


1 


.5 


W:^ 


V^v\ 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


SECOND   REPORT 


XIIL  — ALLOTMENT  SYSTEM.     {Continued,) 

My  First  Report  was  concluded  with  the  important  subject  of 
allotments  of  land  to  laborers.  This  subject,  without  an  explana- 
tion, would  scarcely  be  understood  by  a  majority  of  the  farmers 
in  the  United  States.  The  agricultural  laborers,  or,  as  they  are 
here  termed,  the  farm-servants ,  are  seldom  or  never  owners  of 
land.  They  receive  their  wages  in  money  or  produce,  as  I  have 
already  described ;  and  some  of  them,  living  in  compact  villages, 
have  not  even  a  small  piece  of  ground  for  a  garden,  though,  in 
many  parts  of  the  country,  the  cottages  have  small  gardens  at- 
tached to  them.  The  unmarried  laborers  sometimes  live  in  the 
houses  of  their  employers ;  but  this  is  not  now  a  genersd  nor  a 
frequent  practice.  The  married  laborers  live  in  cottages  on  the 
estate,  or  in  a  neighboring  village. 

It  is  obvious  how  great  advantages  a  poor  family  in  the 
country  may  derive  from  a  small  piece  of  land,  and  how  much 
produce  may  be  obtained  from  it  for  their  support  and  comfort 
by  the  application  of  even  a  small  amount  of  labor,  which  other- 
wise, without  such  opportunity  of  applying  it,  would  be  lost,  or 
rather  would  not  be  exerted.  Many  persons,  therefore,  have 
leased  to  their  laborers  small  portions  of  land,  varying  in  size 
from  a  quarter  of  an  acre,  or  even  less,  to  an  acre,  and  in  some 
cases  more  than  this,  to  be  cultivated  in  such  crops  £is  the  laborer 
may   select,  or  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  proprietor.     One 


82  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

condition  is  usually  made  absolute  in  these  cases  —  that  the  land 
should  be  cultivated  with  a  spade,  and  not  with  a  plough.  The 
results  therefore  become  the  more  interesting. 

I  shall  give  here  an  account  of  a  successful  attempt  at  the 
improvement  of  the  condition  of  the  poor  rural  laborers  by  allot- 
ments of  land,  cultivated  by  the  spade,  uniting  with  these  allot- 
ments, at  the  same  time,  a  provision  for  the  education  of  the  poor 
children  by  whose  labor  these  grounds  are  cultivated.  The 
accounts  have  a  twofold  value,  in  showing  the  practicableness 
of  meeting  the  expenses  of  education  by  the  labor  of  the  pupils, 
and  the  increased  and  extraordinary  product  which  may  be  ob- 
tained from  land  under  the  spade  husbandry. 

"  A  friend  to  the  more  general  diffusion  of  a  sound  education 
amongst  the  peasantry  of  the  United  Kingdom,  who  has  long 
witnessed  the  success  with  which  education  may  be,  without  cost, 
combined  with  instruction,  in  the  best  modes  of  cultivating  the 
soil,  begs  to  submit  to  those  who  are  impressed  with  the  impor- 
tance of  the  effort,  the  few  following  facts :  — 

^'  A  landed  proprietor  has  established  what  are  termed  '  Agricul- 
tural Schools,*  upon  the  principle  of  uniting  our  present  national 
with  agricultural  instruction,  by  making  the  labor  of  the  little 
scholars,*  while  under  tuition  in  the  art  of  husbandry  in  the  after- 
noon, to  compensate  the  master,  in  the  way  of  salary,  for  the 
instruction  they  receive  from  him,  in  the  usual  course  of  our 
national  education  in  the  morning.  Schools  have  already  been 
established  upon  this  plan  at  the  villages  of  East  Dean  and  Wil- 
lingdon,  and  they  are  attended  with  the  happiest  results.  The 
usual  quantity  of  land  required  for  the  purpose  does  not  exceed 
five  acres ;  and  for  this  the  master  pays  a  rent,  certainly  equal  to, 
and  in  most  cases  beyond,  that  of  the  adjoining  land,  occupied 
by  farmers.  In  the  case  of  the  Willingdon  school,  there  is  an 
appropriate  house,  for  which  the  master  pays  an  additional  rent. 
The  only  payment  in  money  to  the  master  is  the  usual  penny  a 
week  from  each  scholar. 

''  Nor  can  any  reasonable  objection  be  made  to  this  plan  on 
the  ground  of  so  employing  the  boys  in  the  afternoon.  The 
girls  in  our  national  schools  are  taught,  and  for  the  same  number 
of  hours,  to  work  with  the  needle,  the  use  of  which  is  not  more 
important  to  them  than  that  of  the  spade  and  the  hoe  to  the 
boys. 


^-^ ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  83 

•'As  various  questions  will  naturally  suggest  themselves  to 
those  who  read  this  statement,  the  following  answers,  by  the 
schoolmaster,  to  numerous  inquiries  already  made,  are  inserted 
here :  ■ — 

''Reply  of  the  Master  to  Inquiries  respecting  this  School. 

"  *  I  have  twenty  scholars,  to  whom  I  teach  reading,  writing, 
and  accounts,  the  Church  Catechism,  Collects,  and  Psalmody  on 
the  national  plan,  with  the  approbation  of  the  vicar,  without  any 
salary,  for  one  penny  per  week  from  each  boy,  from  nine  to 
twelve  o'clock ;  and  from  two  till  five  in  the  afternoon  cultiva- 
ting the  land.  I  have  not  lost  one  from  dissatisfaction,  but  I  am 
glad  to  say  that  they  willingly  assist  me. 

"  '  I  am  satisfied  that  I  can  keep  two  cows  on  the  same  quantity 
of  ground,  stall-fed,  where  I  could  keep  but  one  if  I  allowed  her 
to  graze  ;  and  grow  more  corn. 

"  '  I  have  no  grass  land,  and  all  the  first  winter  my  cows  had 
only  straw,  turnips,  and  mangel-wurzel,  till  green  food  came  on  in 
the  spring ;  and  now  my  hay  is  the  clover  I  sowed  with  the  grain 
crop  last  year. 

" '  I  have  experienced  a  great  deal  of  good  from  the  liquid 
manure  from  the  two  tanks,  one  from  the  cows  and  the  other 
from  the  pigs. 

"  '  I  have  just  killed  a  pig  weighing  twenty-nine  stone  seven 
pounds,  and  one  before  about  the  same  weight,  which  I  have 
used  in  my  family.     I  have  a  wife  and  four  children. 

'"It  is  allowed  that  my  oats  are  the  best  sample  in  the  parish. 
1  tied  my  oats  in  sheaves,  and  set  them  up  the  same  as  wheat, 
which  saves  a  great  deal  of  scattering  :  this  is  the  general  prac- 
tice in  Cornwall  and  Scotland,  and,  I  hear,  in  some  parts  of 
Kent,  and  is  particularly  useful  for  barley  to  malt. 

"  *  I  thrash  my  corn  over  the  cow-house,  as  in  Cornwall, 
Switzerland,  &c.,  which  keeps  it  perfectly  dry,  being  thus  kept 
from  the  damp  ground. 

"  '  I  am  entirely  supplied  with  water  by  the  rain  which  falls  on 
the  house,  preserved  in  a  tank  in  the  ground. 

"  *  The  quantity  of  land  I  rent  is  five  acres,  on  the  side  of  the 
South  Downs,  at  £3  an  acre;  this  with  £5  for  my  house, 
makes  £20,  which  I  have  paid  for  the  year  ending  Michael- 


iH  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

mas  last,  though  I  might  have  taken  off  my  crops,  and  lived 
rent-free ;  but  I  preferred  staying  and  teaching,  though  I  have  no 
salary ;  and  so,  I  think,  would  many  others. 

"  '  I  have  now  three  cows,  a  heifer,  and  a  calf,  standing  oppo- 
site to  each  other,  with  a  road  between  their  mangers  for  feeding 
these  stall-fed  cattle,  which  have  never  needed  a  farrier;  and 
from  skim  milk  I  have  made  cheese  like  the  Dutch  cheese. 

" '  George  Cruttenden. 

" '  WiLLiNGDON,  near  Eastbourne,  Sussex,  JlprH,  1842.' 

"  '  At  your  request,  I  send  the  particulars  of  my  produce  last 
year,  which  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  with,  leaving  me  a  balance  of 
£40  after  every  thing  is  paid,  though  the  last  was  an  unfavorable, 
dry  summer. 

" '  I  am  likewise  happy  to  say,  the  principal  farmers  of  the 
parish  have  taken  into  their  employ  six  of  my  scholars,  all  under 
twelve  years  of  age,  into  their  service  since  Christmas,  and  two 
of  them  under  nine  ;  and  all,  after  leaving  my  day  school,  where 
they  paid  me  one  penny  a  week  in  addition  to  their  work,  have 
each  paid  me  fourpence  a  week  out  of  their  wages,  for  evening 
instruction ;  and  their  master  is  now  using  the  liquid  manure  the 
same  as  I  do,  which  I  have  found  most  beneficial. 

"^I  have  a  wife  and  four  children,  whom  I  support  in  a 
comfortable  way,  and  wish  I  could  see  many  of  my  neigh- 
bors do  the  same ;  but  that  is  not  the  case. 

"  '  G.  Cruttenden. 
•   «*WiLLiNGDON  School,  April  U,  1843.' 

"  A  landed  proprietor  at  Willingdon,  seeing  the  success  of  this 
school,  recommended  the  establishment  of  a  similar  school  in  the 
adjoining  parish  of  East  Dean,  where,  in  the  spring  of  1842,  five 
acres  of  land  were  let  to  John  Harris,  an  infirm  man,  who,  two 
years  before,  had  been  in  the  Eastbourne  Union  House,  with  his 
wife  and  seven  children,  where,  at  three  shillings  per  head,  they 
cost  at  the  rate,  yearly,  of  £70  4  s.,  which  is  equal  to  the  rent  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty-one  acres  of  sheep-walk :  now  he  is 
supporting  his  family  on  only  five  acres,  and,  when  recommended 
to  give  up  his  five  acres,  said,  ^  he  had  rather  continue  to  pay 
rent,  rates,  tithes,  and  taxes,  and  teach  without  a  salary,  than 
have  fourteen  shillings  a  week  without  the  land.' 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.        '  85 

"  Hai'ris,  in  the  Union  House,  resembled  a  mouse  in  a  granary- 
devouring  the  fruits  of  labor ;  but  does  not  this  same  Harris,  on. 
his  five  acres,  resemble  the  mouse  in  the  fable,  releasing 
the  famishing  lion?  for  by  his  rent  he  is  helping  to  support 
the  owner  of  the  soil,  by  his  rates  the  poor,  by  his  tithes 
the  church,  and  by  his  taxes  the  state,  which  surprises  those  who 
have  long  been  accustomed  to  hear  it  is  requisite  to  let  land  in 
large  farms,  for  the  supply  of  food  for  large  towms. 

*'  But  do  not  the  higher  rents  paid  for  allotments  of  land 
by  the  spade  than  the  plough,  show  that,  after  supporting  the 
cultivators  and  their  families,  they  send  more  to  market  per  acre 
than  the  great  farmers  ? 

''  It  was  the  eagerness  of  laborers  in  Sussex  to  hire  land,  that 
suggested  the  possibility  of  some  men  to  obtain  as  much  as  five 
acres,  undertaking  to  teach  reading,  &c.,  three  hours  daily  with- 
out a  salary,  without  at  all  anticipating  that  twelve  boys,  aver- 
aging eight  years  of  age,  by  their  labor  for  three  hours  after  noon, 
could  well  pay  for  their  instruction  in  school  before  noon ;  but 
a  trial  of  upwards  of  three  years  has  put  this  beyond  doubt,  as 
dozens  of  signatures  in  the  visitors'  book  testify,  of  clergymen 
and  members  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  not  only  of  this 
neighborhood,  but  also  from  Ireland  and  Scotland,  amongst 
whom  was  Mr  Townshend  Mainwaring,  M.  P.  for  Denbigh,  who 
inspected  these  schools  April  29th,  1843,  and  entered  in  the  East 
Dean  visitors'  book,  that  he  was  much  gratified  by  the  complete 
success  which  appeared  to  attend  the  simple  principle  upon  which 
the  school  was  conducted. 

*'  And  these  self-supporting  schools  require  much  less  superin- 
tendence than  where  the  master  has  a  fixed  salary,  because,  if  he 
neglected  or  misused  the  boys  before  noon,  their  parents  are  not 
likely  to  send  them  back  to  work  for  him  after  noon. 

"  He  is  interested  in  cultivating  the  land  well,  as  it  is  the  only 
support  of  his  family. 

"  Landlords  are  interested  in  letting  land  to  masters  who  pay 
high  rents. 

"  Rate-payers  are  interested  in  able-bodied  men  being  enabled 
to  maintain  themselves. 

"  Parents  are  interested  in  sending  their  children  where  they 
early  learn  to  earn  their  livings  in  that  state  of  life  unto  which  it 
has  pleased  God  to  call  them. 
8 


86  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTLRE. 

"  The  farmers  around,  seeing  the  great  produce  from  stall- 
feeding  and  liquid  manure,  are  interested  in  taking  additional 
hands  into  their  service. 

''  The  more  food  that  is  raised  from  the  soil,  the  more  there 
will  be  to  exchange  for  clothing,  and  thus  an  increased  home 
msirket  be  provided  for  om'  manufacturers ;  who,  the  more  they 
earn,  the  more  they  have  to  lay  out  in  meat,  &c. 

"And  to  effect  this,  there  is  no  deficiency  in  capital.  There 
is  no  want  of  hands,  as  our  Union  Houses  are  overflowing  with 
the  able-bodied ;  nor  is  there  any  want  of  land,  as  the  heaths, 
commons,  and  grazing  land,  even  round  London,  show." 

It  is  stated,  likewise,  —  and  it  is  a  fact  deserving  of  all  remark, 
—  "  that,  during  a  course  of  twelve  years,  out  of  four  hundred 
rents,  only  three  rents  have  been  deficient,  though  the  tenants 
were  taken  without  reference  to  character,  and  told  the  rent 
would  not  be  demanded  if  not  tendered ;  but  the  desire  of  keep- 
ing the  land  has  secured  the  annual  payment,  and  only  one,  during 
the  whole  of  that  time,  has  been  convicted  of  a  misdemeanor." 

''In  fifty  parishes  in  one  county  in  which  there  are  above 

three  thousand  allotments,  after  the  most  careful  inquiry,  our 
agent  heard  only  of  one  commitment  to  prison  in  1840,  and  not 
even  one  in  1841,  out  of  the  whole  three  thousand  families." 

The  general  condition  on  which  allotments  are  granted  being 
that  they  shall  be  cultivated  by  the  spade,  the  extraordinary 
product  obtained  in  this  way  deserves  to  be  remarked.  The 
statements  to  which  I  shall  refer  are  drawn  from  the  reports  of 
a  committee  of  Parliament,  and  seem,  therefore,  entitled  to  con- 
fidence. I  have  myself  visited  several  allotment  grounds  in 
different  parts  of  the  country,  and  am  quite  satisfied  that  the 
results  under  this  system  of  management  are  not  overstated.  On 
this  subject  I  shall  say  more  hereafter ;  but  it  may  not  be  out  of 
place  if  I  give  here  some  examples  which  have  been  referred  to. 

Jesse  Piper,  in  Sussex,  holds  an  allotment  of  four  acres.  He 
obtained,  in  1842.  forty-two  bushels  of  wheat  from  three  quarters 
of  an  acre  of  land ;  he  had  two  hundred  and  fifty  bushels  of 
potatoes  from  three  fourths  of  an  acre  ;  he  had  ten  bushels  of 
barley  from  the  other  land,  and  kept  two  cows,  and  three  and 
sometimes  four  pigs ;  he  considers  that  there  might  be  an  acre 
of  grass,  and  the  cows  were  kept  entirely  upon  the  produce  of 
the  four  acres ;  a  portion  of  this  was  not  arable,  as  some  trees 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  87 

were  growing  upon  it.  A  peculiarity  in  this  man's  management 
is,  that  he  works  one  of  his  cows  in  his  cart,  and  calculates  that 
her  labor  saves  him  an  expense  of  five  pounds ;  she  is  milked 
in  the  morning  before  she  is  put  to  work,  and,  although  worked, 
she  makes  eight  pounds  of  butter  a  week,  besides  furnishing 
some  milk  for  the  family.  This  is  a  sort  of  Robinson  Crusoe 
management,  which  is  well  deserving  of  attention.  It  would 
not  be  easy  to  find  a  reason  why  the  female  of  one  class  of  ani- 
mals should  be  exempted  from  work,  rather  than  of  another ;  and 
there  is  no  ground  to  suppose  that,  with  good  feeding  and  careful 
usage,  moderate  labor  would  be  injurious  to  the  health  of  an 
animal ;  much  more  likely  is  it  to  be  conducive  to  health,  and 
even,  in  such  case  £is  this,  to  the  more  liberal  secretions  of  milk. 
Other  circumstances  in  this  man's  economy  are  worthy  of  ob- 
servation ;  he  saves  all  his  liquid  manure  in  a  tank  by  his  own 
house,  and  mixes  with  it  a  proportion  of  soot  and  salt ;  he  throws 
his  land  into  heaps,  and  puts  the  liquid  upon  the  heaps,  and  then 
spreads  it  abroad  —  ''because,"  as  he  remarks,  "his  land  is  so 
near  the  chalk,  that  if  he  put  his  liquid  manure  upon  the  land, 
three  fourths  of  it  would  be  wasted  —  it  would  go  clean  away,  so 
as  never  to  get  it  again ;  but  when  put  in  a  heap  of  mould  it  is 
retained." 

Produce  of  four  Acres ^  held  by  J.  Piper ^  in  1842. 

£.  s.  d. 

42  bushels  of  wheat,  at  7  s.  6d.  per  bushel 15  15  0 

250  do.  potatoes,  at  15  d.  per  do.       . 15  12  6 

Food  for  one  cow,  which  gave  4  lbs.  butter  per  week, 

at  Is.  per  lb 10  0  0 

The  other  cow           do.           do.           do.           do.      .  10  0  0 

Food  for  three  pigs,  at  20  st.  each,  and  at  3  s.  6  d.  per  st.  10  10  0 

£61  17  6 
This  example  shows  the  extraordinary  results  of  minute  and 
exact  cultivation,  and  the  value  of  economy  in  husbanding  with 
extreme  care  all  the  resources  for  manure.  The  cow  is  an  ani- 
mal I  have  always  looked  upon  with  the  greatest  respect  for  her 
justice  and  her  liberality ;  in  this  case  she  pays  for  her  board  by 
her  yield  in  milk  and  butter,  and  adds  to  it  her  labor,  or,  as 
is  said  in  case  of  a  free  passage  on  board  ship,  ''  she  works  her 


§s 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


own  passage  ;  "  but  the  good  creature's  usefulness  does  not  end 
here.  When  she  has  completed  her  round  of  beneficence,  her 
benefactions  do  not  close  with  her  life ;  her  hoofs  are  made  into 
glue ;  her  horns  into  combs ;  her  bones  into  knife-handles  and 
cane-tops ;  her  hair  worked  up  into  plaster ;  her  skin  into  shoes  f 
and  her  meat  into  food.  Who  can  wonder  that  the  Hindoos 
always  regarded  her  with  a  religious  veneration  ? 

The  next  instance  presented  by  the  Parliamentary  Reports  is 
that  of  J.  Dumbrell.  His  allotment  is  six  acres,  and  is  managed 
by  himself,  his  father,  (seventy  years  old,)  and  a  child  of  nine 
years  old.     "  The  soil  is  chalk,  on  a  deep  soil,  in  a  valley." 

His  stock  consists  of  two  cows  and  a  heifer,  and  from  two  to 
three  pigs.  His  succession  of  crops  is  thus  described :  "  First, 
Italian  rye  grass,  cut  four  times,  watering  it  each  time  with 
liquid  manure  after  cutting  it ;  then  tares ;  then  clover ;  then 
cabbage  comes  in,  and  mangel-wurzel ;  and  second  cut  clover, 
and  sometimes  three ;  and  that  carries  us  all  the  summer 
through :  then  we  begin  upon  the  roots  in  winter,  turnips  and 
mangel-wurzel,  and  straw." 

The  following  is  the  statement  of  his  produce  for  1840 :  — 

£.  s.  d. 

From  two  cows  in  nine  months  and  a  half,  from  the 
16th  of  Jan.  to  the  26th  of  Oct.,  made  400ilbs.  of 
butter,  which  at  1  s.  per  lb 20     0  3 

The  cow,  all  the  year  stall-fed,  yielding  a  third  more 
than  the  other,  which  grazed  half  an  acre ;  and  their 
two  calves  sold  for      . 5  18  0 

The  skim  milk,  at  3  pints  Id.,  or  given  to  the  pigs,  is 

estimated  at       . 10     0  0 

On  one  quarter  of  an  acre  he  grew  18  bushels  of  oats, 

which,  at  4  s.  per  bushel,  amounts  to 3  12  0 

On  88  poles  {i.  e.,  a  little  more  than  half  an  acre)  he 
grew  32  bushels  of  wheat,  worth,  at  8  s.  per  bushel, 
(which  is  equal  to  the  consumption  of  himself,  his 
wife,  and  three  infant  children,)    . 12  IG  0 

Besides  pigs,  potatoes,  vegetables,  and  the  butter  to  be 
expected  to  the  end  of  the  year,  which  may  fairly 
be  estimated  on  the  whole  of  the  land  (including 
the  foregoing,  as  I  understand  the  account,  which  is 
rather  imperfectly  drawn  up)  at 60     0  0 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  89 

Out  of  this  he  paid  — 

Rent,  rates,  tithes,  and  taxes  of  one  acre,      .     £17 

Rent  of  one  acre  and  a  half, 7  0 

Rent  of  half  an  acre  of  grass,      .     .     .  £2  10 

Lodge  in  it, 1  00 

Rates,  tithes,  and  taxes,    .....  15 

£4  5 

Hired  labor, .£2     0 

Seed  corn, 2     0 

£4  0 

Leaving     ....  £43     8  0 

The  two  pounds  paid  for  labor  were  paid  for  threshing. 
There  are  two  other  accounts  of  the  same  individual  subjoined. 

Produce  of  three  and  one  quarter  Acres,  in  1841. 

£.  s.  d. 

Wheat,  2 IJ  bushels,  at  8  s 8  12  0 

Oats,  44  bushels,  at  2  s.  9  d 610 

Potatoes,  80  bushels,  at  1  s 4  0  0 

Two  calves  sold  for 5  10  0 

Butter,  423i lbs.,  at  Is 21  3  3 

Milk  sold,  and  given  to  the  pigs, 10  0  0 

£65     6  3 

Produce  of  six  and  one  quarter  Acres,  in  1842. 

£.  s.  d. 

Wheat,  40  bushels,  at  6  s.  6  d 13     0  0 

Oats,  93  bushels,  at  2  s.  6  d 1112  6 

Peas,  22  bushels,  at  4  s.  6  d 4  19  0 

Potatoes,  150  bushels,  at  1  s 7  10  0 

Two  calves,  one  fat  and  one  suckled, 3     7  0 

Butter,  290 lbs.,  at  Is 14  10  0 

Milk  sold,  and  given  to  pigs, 800 

£62  18  6 

In  1842,  he  lost  two  cows  by  death,  and  the  additional  land 
was  taken  in  bad  condition. 

At  the  same  time,  he  presented  a  sample  of  his  wheat,  on  which 
were  eiglity-four  stalks  from  one  grain.  There  is  another  secret 
8* 


90  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

of  this  man's  success  —  he  had  signed  the  temperance  pledge; 
he  is  a  tee-totaller,  and  drinks  neither  spirituous  nor  fermented 
liquor. 

An  inquiry  was  made  of  Mr.  Dumbrell,  "how  it  was  possible 
to  keep  two  cows,  and  maintain  a  family  of  five  persons,  on  only 
three  acres  of  land ;  "  to  which  this  is  his  answer  —  "  The  state- 
ment you  saw  was  very  true ;  half  an  acre  of  pasture,  half  an 
acre  and  eight  rods  in  wheat,  and  one  quarter  of  an  acre  in  oats , 
the  other  part  was  green  food  for  the  cows,  such  as  rye,  tares, 
cabbages,  clover,  mangel-wurzel,  turnips,  and  Italian  rye-grass. 
But  if  you  are  surprised  at  my  keeping  two  cows  on  this  quantity 
of  land,  I  must  tell  you  that  one  crop  a  year  will  not  do  it :  but  my 
plan  is  to  take  second  crops;  that  is,  rye  is  the  first  thing  I  cut 
green  in  the  spring ;  then  1  dig  the  land,  and  manure  it  with  the 
liquid  manure,  as  far  as  it  will  go ;  then  finish  with  rotten  dung, 
and  plant  mangel-wurzel  and  turnips  ;  and  the  part  that  I  manure 
with  the  liquid  is  always  the  best.  The  next  thing  I  cut  is 
winter  barley  and  turnips,  and  plant  some  cabbages  for  winter : 
by  this  time  I  cut  the  grass  and  clover,  which  grows  again  in  a 
short  time,  with  a  little  of  the  liquid  manure  as  soon  as  it  is  cut. 
Last  summer  I  cut  the  Italian  rye-grass  and  clover  three  times ; 
and  this  year  I  have  nearly  cut  it  twice  already,  and  there  were 
really  two  good  crops  of  the  Italian  rye-grass,  and  I  think  there 
will  be  two  more  this  summer,  with  a  little  manuring.  My  early 
cabbages  I  always  let  stand  to  grow  again  all  the  summer,  and 
they  bring  a  great  deal  of  food.  I  plant  again  in  November,  and 
put  the  liquid  manure  to  them  as  far  as  it  will  go ;  but  to  the 
rest  I  use  dung  or  ashes,  which  are  not  so  good  as  the  liquid, 
which  any  body  may  tell  in  the  spring  by  looking  at  the  bed  of 
cabbages  ;  so  I  hope  it  now  appears  how  the  cows  are  maintained 
in  winter  £ls  well  as  in  summer.  Daring  last  winter,  I  had  no 
hay,  only  turnips,  mangel-wurzel,  and  straw,  and  they  did  very 
well." 

I  have  already  apprized  my  readers  that  my  Reports  must  be, 
in  a  degree,  desultory,  from  the  necessity  of  giving  them  before 
the  whole  ground  has  been  gone  over.  Compelled  at  once  to 
begin  the  erection  of  my  building,  I  must  use  such  materials  as 
I  have  ;  and  which,  I  fear,  under  such  circumstances,  may  appear 
incongruous  and  ill-assorted  to  an  eye  accustomed  to  order  and 
exact  arrangement ;  whereas,  if  every  thing  were  at  hand,  I  might 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  91 

better  succeed  in  preserving  the  symmetry  and  adjusting  the 
architectural  proportions  of  the  edifice.  I  shall  therefore  make 
no  excuse  for  saying  here  something  more  of  spade  husbandry, 
and  the  extraordinary  products  of  small  pieces  of  land ;  and  it 
must  be  admitted  that  it  is  by  no  means  disconnected  with  the 
subject  of  cottage  allotments. 

The  utmost  productive  capacity  of  an  acre  of  land,  in  any 
crop,  has  not  yet  been  fully  determined.  The  amounts  attained 
frequently  surprise  us ;  but  we  have  not  yet  got  to  the  end  of 
the  line. 

One  of  the  witnesses  before  the  Parliamentary  committee  gives 
an  account  of  a  man  who  supported  himself,  and  wife,  and  son, 
from  two  acres  of  land,  for  which  he  paid  a  rent  for  the  two  of  £9 
10  s. ;  and  in  the  course  of  seven  years,  he  had  saved  enough  from 
the  produce  of  his  two  acres  to  purchase  two  acres  of  land,  for 
which  he  paid  about  £30  to  £40  per  acre.  He  states,  likewise, 
his  own  personal  knowledge  of  six  acres  of  land,  which,  under 
the  spade  cultivation,  produced  at  the  rate  of  fifty-two  bushels  of 
wheat  to  the  acre.  Another  witness  testifies  that  on  the  estate 
of  Lord  Howard,  Barbot  Hall,  in  Yorkshire,  a  rood  of  land  was 
dug  and  planted  with  wheat  by  his  lordship's  direction,  and 
twenty-eight  bushels  of  wheat  were  obtained  from  this  quarter  of 
an  acre,  which  would  be  at  the  extraordinary  and  unheard-of 
rate  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  bushels  per  acre. 

The  authenticity,  or  rather  accuracy,  of  such  a  statement  as 
this  may  well  be  considered  as  questionable ;  but  I  have  the 
pleasure  of  presenting  one,  exhibiting  a  most  extraordinary  yield, 
on  which  full  reliance  may  be  placed. 

In  visiting  Horsham,  (the  last  summer,)  in  the  county  of 
Sussex,  my  attention  was  strongly  attracted  by  two  small  pieces 
of  wheat  in  a  garden  by  the  road-side,  exhibiting  an  extraordinary 
luxuriance ;  and  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  a  detailed  iiistory  of 
its  culture  and  yield,  through  the  politeness  of  C.  S.  Dickens,  Esq., 
of  Coolhurst,  near  Horsham. 

The  seed  of  this  wheat  was  brought  from  Australia,  being  the 
product  of  some  wheat  which  had  been  sent  there  two  or  three 
years  before.  The  quantity  of  land  sown,  in  one  of  the  pieces, 
was  thirty-four  square  yards.  The  wheat  was  dropped  in  rows 
nine  inches  apart,  and  in  holes  six  inches  apart,  and  only  one 
grain  in  a  place.     The  number  of  corns  planted  was  682,  out  of 


92  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

which  33  failed  to  germinate.  The  cuhivator  obtained  four 
gallons  of  good  wheat  from  the  land,  exclusive  of  several  of  the 
finest  plants,  which  he  saved.  The  usual  number  of  stems  from 
each  seed  was  18  to  20  ;  a  considerable  number  gave  30  to  35, 
and  one  was  counted  which  had  40  full-sized  stems,  and  three 
of  a  smaller  size.  The  straw  from  the  34  yards  weighed  72 
pounds,  which  would  be  284  trusses  of  36  pounds  to  the  acre. 
The  weight  of  the  682  corns  planted  was  17  drachms.  This 
being  multiplied  by  142,  the  land  being  the  1-1 42d  part  of  an 
acre,  gave  about  9i  pounds  as  seed  for  the  acre ;  consequently 
one  bushel  of  wheat,  at  63  pounds  per  bushel,  would  plant  more 
than  six  acres.  The  produce  of  4  gallons,  multiplied,  as  above, 
by  142,  gives  the  great  quantity  of  71  bushels,  or  17  sacks  3 
bushels,  to  the  acre.  The  ground  had  borne  potatoes  the  previous 
year,  and  had  received  no  top-dressing,  nor  been  in  any  way 
manured  for  the  wheat.  A  sample  of  the  wheat,  which  has 
been  kindly  sent  to  me,  in  the  straw,  and  which  1  have  de- 
posited in  the  museum  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  was 
six  feet  in  height. 

These  are  remarkable  facts.  What  has  been  done  can  be 
done.  They  forbid  our  resting  satisfied  with  what  has  been 
accomplished ;  and  they  encourage  the  hope  that  the  productive 
powers  of  the  soil  are  vastly  greater  than  have  yet  been  deter- 
mined. Onward !  is  the  watchword  of  the  present  day,  in  every 
department  of  science  and  art.  Why  should  agriculture  form  an 
exception  ?  Away  with  the  drones !  Do  not  let  us  mistake  a 
fog-bank  for  land,  nor  think  that  we  have  reached  the  end  of 
the  voyage  until  our  feet  actually  press  the  solid  ground. 

The  allotments  referred  to  above  I  have  myself  had  the  satis- 
faction of  inspecting,  and  add,  with  great  pleasure,  my  humble 
testimony  to  the  skill,  industry,  and  good  conduct,  with  which 
they  are  managed.  Indeed,  in  many  respects,  I  do  not  know 
where  they  can  be  exceeded.  The  establishments  presented 
striking  examples  of  the  most  exact  economy.  Three  of  the 
parties  had  been  driven  by  their  necessities  into  the  workhouses, 
principally,  however,  owing  to  accidental  injuries  and  sickness  ; 
but  now,  instead  of  being  dependent  upon  public  support,  they 
were  paying  punctually  a  full  rent  for  their  land,  and  were  pro- 
curing an  honest  and  comfortable  living  from  their  own  industry. 
Another  of  the  families,  presenting  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  93 

affecting  examples  of  indefatigable  industry,  of  severe  economy, 
and  of  grateful  and  religious  contentment,  which  I  have  ever 
witnessed,  said,  with  their  eyes  flooded  with  tears,  that  they 
had  been  saved  from  the  workhouse  —  a  fate  Avhich  many  of  the 
poor  seem  to  dread  almost  as  much  as  death  itself — only  by  the 
kindness  of  their  beneficent  proprietor  in  leasing  them  the  land, 
and  in  furnishing  them  with  tools  and  with  cows  to  commence 
th^ir  operations.  Besides  supporting  themselves  and  their  child, 
they  had  also  supported  an  aged  father  and  mother ;  and  had 
nearly  paid  a  debt  of  twenty  pounds  to  the  physician,  incurred 
by  a  sickness  of  three  years,  of  the  man  himself,  before  he  had 
the  allotment ;  and  the  whole  of  which  they  were  determined 
fully  to  discharge.  They  expressed  theniselves  but  too  happy 
in  being  able  to  assist  and  succor  their  aged  parents,  who,  in 
time  of  his  illness,  took  the  kindest  care  of  them.  In  no  condi- 
tion of  life  have  I  seen  a  brighter  example,  without  any  preten- 
sions and  without  ostentation,  of  some  of  the  highest  virtues 
which  can  adorn  the  human  character.  An  inflexible  rule  with 
them  was,  not  to  incur  even  the  smallest  debt  for  any  thing. 
The  matter  of  medical  relief  must,  of  course,  form  an  exception. 
This  same  man,  living  in  a  poor  village,  where  it  would  seem 
that  education  was  never  more  wanting,  had  proposed,  after  the 
plan  of  the  others,  to  keep  a  school,  and  assist  himself  by  the 
labor  of  the  children  ;  but  a  principal  farmer  in  the  neighborhood, 
disconcerted  by  the  extraordinary  success  of  this  humble  family 
in  sustaining  themselves  independent  of  his  aid,  had  threatened 
his  laborers,  if  they  sent  their  children  to  this  school,  they  should 
be  dismissed  from  his  eiliployment,  and  so  prevented  it.  It  is  to 
be  hoped,  for  the  honor  of  human  nature,  that  examples  of  such 
oold  brutality  are  rare. 

Three  of  these  tenants  have  been  kind  enough  to  furnish  me 
with  their  accounts  of  the  products  of  the  last  year,  (1843,)  which 
will,  I  think,  not  be  without  interest  to  my  readers. 

Ml.  Crittenden  has  five  acres  of  land,  of  which  the  following 
is  the  produce  for  the  year  1843.  He  adds,  in  respect  to  it,  "  I 
have  not  put  in  the  corn,  roots,  and  hay,  which  the  cows  and 
pigs  consume,  as  they  answer  to  them  in  their  milk  and  flesh." 


94 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTUUE. 


"  WiLLiNGDON,  March  4,  1844. 
"  The  produce  of  my  land,  five  acres,  the  last  year,  ( 1843, ) 
being  the  quantity  and  the  price :  — 

£.    s.  d. 

8  qt.  6  bu.  of  wheat,  at  52  s.  per  qt 22  15  0 

3    ''   0   ^'    of  oats,  at  21  s.  per  qt 3     3  0 

1    '^  6   ''    of  barley,  at  30  s.  per  qt. 2  12  6 

1    '^  0   '^    of  peas,  at  34  s.  per  qt.       ......      1  14  0 

120  bushels  of  potatoes,  at  1  s.  per  bushel,        ...      600 

1  large  hog  sold  for 4  15  0 

1  small  do 15  6 

1  calf,  sold  young, 1  10  0 

1  hog  for  self,  25  stone, 3  15  0 

Butter  and  milk,     .     .     .     .     .     , 11     0  0 

1  calf,  reared  for  a  cow, 2  10  0 

1  young  sow, 2     0  0 

£63     0  0 
Rent, 25     0  0 

38     0  0 
1  qt.  of  tail  wheat,  worth  £2,  which  we  eat,   ...      200 

Total,  £40     0  0'» 

I  subjoin  the  letter  with  which  he  has  favored  me  :  — 

«  Sir, 

"  I  send  you  the  rotation  of  cropping  for  six  years,  which 
I  adopt  myself ;  likewise  the  kinds  and  quantity  which  I  sow,  for 
two  cows  and  a  heifer,  on  my  five  acres.  First,  I  sow  about  one 
and  a  half  acres  of  wheat,  which  I  drill  in,  about  nine  inches  apart 
between  drills.  I  sow  two  and  a  half  bushels  to  the  acre.  Then 
I  sow  one  acre  with  clover  in  the  spring,  —  about  three  gallons 
of  seed  to  the  acre,  —  in  order  to  cut  for  the  cows  green,  and  the 
rest  for  hay  for  the  winter ;  this  is  the  best  food  that  I  can  get. 
It  may  be  cut  three  times.  Second,  one  acre  of  either  oats  or 
barley  that  I  drill  in,  as  every  thing  drilled  is  so  much  best  for 
the  boys  to  work  amongst,  and  likewise  a  saving  of  seed. 
Third,  I  sow  about  twenty  rods  of  rye,  and  sixty  rods  of  winter 
tares,  in  September,  for  the  cows  in  the  spring,  and  they  will 
come  off  soon  enough  for  potatoes  or  turnips  ;  after  them,  then  it 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM. 


95 


comes  in  fcr  wheat.  I  sow  the  rye  and  tares  broadcast,  as  it 
should  be  tliick  on  the  ground.  Fourth,  I  sow  the  rest  of  the 
ground  with  swedes,  turnips,  mangel-wurzel,  carrots,  and  pota- 
toes, for  winter  food ;  the  mangel-wurzel  produces  a  great  deal 
of  food  for  the  cows,  if  the  leaves  are  taken  off  properly. 

''  1  leave  a  piece  of  ground  for  spring  tares,  to  come  in  after  the 
winter  tares.     I  sow  these  in  February. 

"  This  will  keep  two  cows  and  a  heifer  all  the  year  roimd,  if 
they  are  stall-fed. 

"Rotation  of   Crops. 


1845. 
—46. 
—47. 

—48. 

—49. 
—50. 

1845. 
—46. 
—47. 

—48. 
—49. 

—50. 


1845. 

—46. 
—47. 
—48. 
—49. 
—50. 


Fh'st  Division. 

Wheat . 

Clover 

Wheat 

Turnips  and  mangel-wm-zel. 

Oats  or  barley.     .     .     .     < 
Potatoes 


l^hird  Division. 
Oats  or  barley.     .     .     . 
Rye  and  tares.     .     .     . 

Wheat 

Clover 

Wheat 

Turnips,    mangel-wurzel, 
carrots, 

Fifth  Division. 

Spring  tares  and  turnips.    < 

W^heat. 

Turnips,  mangel,  turnips.  . 

Oats  or  barley 

Potatoes 

Wheat I  Wheat.' 


Second  Division. 
Rye  and  tar.es. 
Wheat. 
Clover. 
Wheat. 
Turnips,   mangel-wurzel, 

carrots, 
Oats  or  barley. 

Fourth  Division. 
Wheat. 

Turnips,  mangel-wurzel. 
Oats  or  bailey. 
Potatoes. 
Wheat. 

Clover. 


Sixth  Division. 
Mangel-wurzel,  carrots, 

swedes,  turnips. 
Oats  or  barley. 
Rye  and  tares. 
Wheat. 
Clover. 


The  next  account  which  I  shall  present  is  that  of  Mr.  Dum- 
brell,  at  the  village  of  Jevington,  Sussex  county,  who  occupies 


96  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTLRE. 

six  acres  and  a  quarter.     The  products  of  the  years  1841  and 
1842  are  already  given.     The  following  is  for  1843  :  — 

Six  Acres  and  a  quarter,  1843. 

£.  s.  d. 

Two  calves, 4  10  0 

Peas,  3  bushels  3  gallons,  at  4  s.  6  d 0  15  2 

Wheat, '47i  bushels,  5  s.  6  d .     .13  13 

Barley,  10  bushels,  at  4  s 2  00 

Tares,  6  bushels,  at  4  s.  6  d 1  7  0 

Oats,  66  bushels,  at  2  s.  3d 7  86 

Butter,  364 J  lbs.,  at  lid 16  14  4i 

Potatoes,  200  bushels,  at  1  s 10  0  0 

Milk,  sold, 8  0  0 


Total,     .     .     .     £63  16  3i 

He  adds,  in  his  letter  to  me,  "  You  may  be  surprised  at  my 
not  making  more  from  six  acres  and  a  quarter,  than  I  did,  in 
proportion,  from  three  acres  and  a  quarter ;  but  it  is  to  be  under- 
stood that,  since  my  farm  was  made  up  to  six  acres  and  a  quarter, 
the  products,  as  the  two  last  tables  show,  have  not  sold  so  well, 
and  the  last  three  acres,  which  were  added  to  my  farm,  were  very 
poor  soil." 

I  give  next  the  report  of  last  year's  crop,  which  has  been  sent 
me  by  John  Harris,  as  the  products  of  the  labors  of  himself  and 
his  scholars.  He  adopts  the  same  system  of  spade  husbandry, 
and  the  application  of  liquid  manure  to  his  crops.  His  allotment 
comprehends  five  acres  only. 

One  acre  and  twelve  rods  of  wheat  produced      .     .  53  bushels. 

Half  an  acre  of  oats, 61       " 

Thirty  rods  of  barley, 13J     " 

Twenty  rods  of  peas,         .........  4J     " 

One  acre  of  potatoes, 404       " 

Half  an  acre  of  turnips, 150       " 

Sixteen  rods  of  carrots,      .     , 3J  tons. 

Fifteen  rods  of  mangel-wurzel, 3      " 

The  rest  of  his  land  was  occupied  with  green  food  for  his 
cows ;  such  as  cabbages,  rye,  clover,  tares,  &c.  He  kept  two 
cows.     He  had  from  eight  to  twelve  pigs  all  winter,  and  they 


ALI.OTMENT     SYSTEM.  97 

consumed  all  his  potatoesj  and  his  turnips,  mangel-wurzel,  and 
carrots,  were  given  to  his  cows.  He  fatted  one  hundred  and 
twenty  stone,  or  nine  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  of  pork,  which 
he  sold  to  the  butcher.  He  sold  six  shotes,  at  three  months  old, 
for  stores,  and  one  pig  for  roasting ;  and  he  sold  also  one  sow  in 
pig,  for  £2  12  s.  He  kept  no  account  of  the  produce  of  his 
cows. 

Several  things  are  remarkable  in  regard  to  these  allotments 
and  modes  of  management.  In  the  first  place,  they  are  all  culti- 
vated by  the  spade.  Where  labor  is  abundant,  as  in  England, 
and  the  great  difficulty  is  to  know  how  to  employ  it  with  advan- 
tage, this  might  be  attempted  even  upon  a  large  scale.  The 
expense  of  horses  upon  a  farm  is  always  a  great  consideration ; 
and  especially  upon  small  farms,  the  expense  of  horses,  compared 
with  the  amount  of  product,  is  very  great,  and  absorbs  a  \axge 
proportion  of  the  income.  It  is  estimated  by  many  intelligent 
farmers  in  England,  that  the  horse-teams  require  for  their  main- 
tenance full  one  fourth  of  the  produce  of  the  soil.  I  propose 
presently  to  discuss  this  whole  subject  of  brute  labor  upon  a 
farm,  and  shall  therefore  go  no  farther  at  present  than  to  add  my 
conviction,  that  the  expense  of  their  horse-teams  in  England,  the 
cost  of  their  horses,  which,  after  a  certain  age,  is  always  a  de- 
teriorating capital,  the  expense  of  their  maintenance,  shoeing, 
harness,  (fcc.  &c.,  constitute  a  most  serious  drawback  to  the  pros- 
perity of  English  farmers,  and  that  some  little  of  this  may  be 
charged  to  the  vanity  of  display,  and  the  ambition  of  extraordi- 
nary size.  Whatever  it  may  be,  on  these  allotments  it  is  all 
saved  ;  the  labor,  Avith  the  exception  of  the  working  of  the  cow 
on  one  allotment,  is  all  human. 

The  second  observation,  which  occurred  to  me,  was  the  extra- 
ordinary pains  taken  in  saving  the  manure.  Nothing  was  wasted. 
The  animals  were  stall-fed,  and  kept  constantly  in  the  stable,  and 
a  small  brick  or  stone  tank,  well  cemented  with  lime,  was  sunk 
near  the  cow  stable,  and  near  the  pigstye,  which  received  all  the 
liquid  manure  ;  and  the  contents  of  these  tanks,  on  their  becom- 
ing full,  were  pumped  into  a  small  cart,  with  a  sprinkling-box 
attached  to  it,  like  that  used  for  the  watering  of  streets  in  cities, 
and  distributed  over  the  crops,  always  with  the  greatest  advan- 
tage, and  with  effects  immediately  perceptible.  The  tanks  in 
this  case  were  quite  small,  because  the  stock  was  small,  and 
9 


98  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

made,  with  little  expense,  of  common  stone  laid  in  lime,  and 
having  a  wooden  cover  for  security  on  the  top.  They  were  well 
cemented  within,  and  might  be  emptied  by  a  pump,  or  dipped 
out  with  a  bucket. 

An  eminent  farmer  in  Yorkshire  has  lately  stated  that  he  has, 
within  the  last  ten  years,  made  three  tanks  upon  his  farm,  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  the  liquid  manure.  The  first  he  made  con- 
tained forty  cubic  yards  of  liquid,  but  he  had  enlarged  it  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards,  which  was  filled  three  times  a  year,  by 
the  produce  of  his  farm.  He  is  satisfied,  from  his  experience,  that 
thirty  cubic  yards  of  this  liquid  manure  would  cause  it  to  pro- 
duce as  heavy  a  crop  as  any  other  manure  which  could  be 
applied  to  it.  With  the  manure  which  flowed  into  the  tank,  he 
had  manured  twelve  acres  ;  and  this  had  produced  heavy  crops  of 
grass,  which  he  had  mowed  three  times,  and  then  there  was  an 
abundance,  which  he  mowed  late  in  the  season  and  gave  to  his 
horses.  This  he  had  found  to  be  the  case  upon  land  which  had 
not  been  pastured  for  nine  years,  but  always  been  mown. 

I  shall  not  offend  any  truly  sensible  person,  if  I  add  that  the 
most  careful  provision  is  made  for  the  saving  of  all  the  human 
excrements,  by  a  movable  tub  placed  under  the  seat  of  the  water- 
closet,  and  concealed  by  a  door,  which  is  carefully  emptied  and 
cleansed  daily,  and  thus  saved  from  being  offensive.  This  is 
always  mixed  with  soil,  and,  in  the  experience  of  one  of  the 
farmers,  cannot  be  safely  applied  to  the  land  until  it  is  a  year  old. 
Of  the  value  of  this  source  of  manure,  now,  in  many  cases,  much 
worse  than  thrown  away,  I  shall  subjoin  some  curious  calcula- 
tions in  a  note,  which  my  reader,  being  forewarned,  may  peruse 
or  not,  at  his  pleasure.* 

*  The  committee  for  building  a  Lunatic  Asylum,  at  Derby,  proposed  to  Mr. 
Haywood,  an  agricultural  chemist  of  much  talent  and  experience,  Uie  inquiry  as 
to  the  results  which  "  the  manure  obtained  from  a  given  number  of  patients  is 
capable  of  producing,  in  the  growth  of  crops,  supposing  the  entire  drainage  of  the 
establishment  to  be  applied  to  this  use." 

To  this  Mr.  Haywood  replied  m  a  very  elaborate  and  scientific  report,  with  a 
copy  of  which  he  favored  me ;  from  which  1  shall  quote  a  few  paragraphs. 

"  The  great  object  of  my  inquiry  is,  to  ascertain  what  quantity  of  arable  land, 
in  the  present  four-course  system  of  cultivation,  can  be  kept  in  a  constant  state 
of  fertility  by  the  application  of  all  the  excretions,  both  liquid  and  solid,  which  are 
produced  by  a  certain  number  of  individuals,  together  with  the  minor  fertilizing 
substances  which  the  proper  management  of  a  large  domestic  establisliment  is 
capable  of  producing ;  also  to  give,  as  accurately  as  possible,  the  extent  of  land 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  99 

The  third  circumstance  remarkable  in  the  case  was,  that  the 
cows  are  fed  in  the  stalls,  and  never  turned  out.  The  principal 
food  given  them  was  clover,  tares,  or  rye  cut  green ;  the  leaves 
of  mangel-wurzel,  and,  in  the  winter,  turnips,  mangel-wurzel, 
carrots,  (fcc,  and  straw.  The  cows  were  in  good  condition,  and 
though  evidently  not  of  a  character  to  promise  much  milk,  yet 
the  health  of  the  animals  was  perfect.     They  were  not  selected, 

which  can  be  kept  in  the  same  state  of  fertility  by  the  excrements  of  a  certain 
number  of  horses,  cows,  and  sheep. 

"  The  course  I  have  adopted  in  this  inquiry  has  been,  in  the  first  place,  to 
ascertain  the  average  quantity  of  food,  both  animal  and  vegetable,  consumed  by  a 
certain  number  of  individuals  in  a  given  time,  and  from  a  knowledge  of  the  com- 
position of  such  food  to  deduce  the  composition  of  the  excrements,  and  afterwards 
apply  this  to  the  composition  of  crops ;  for  it  is  now  universally  admitted  that  all 
those  elementary  constituents  which  enter  into  the  composition  of  plants  or 
animals,  are  primarily  derived  from  the  air  or  the  soil,  and  that  whatever  be  the 
quantity  of  elementary  constituents  taken  in  tlie  food  of  an  adult  man,  in  a  given 
time,  the  same  quantity  of  these  constituents  will  again  be  eliminated  from  his 
system  by  the  lungs,  skin,  kidneys,  and  intestines,  in  the  same  time.  If,  therefore, 
we  preserve  the  whole  of  the  excretions  made  by  an  individual  in  a  given  time, 
we  preserve  the  whole  of  the  elements  of  the  food  he  has  consumed  in  that  time, 
and,  by  applying  these  to  land,  should  be  able  to  produce  again  the  same  amount 
of  food  in  the  form  of  corn  and  potatoes,  together  with  an  extra  quantity  of  vege- 
table matter,  which,  being  consumed  by  a  growing  animal,  would  yield  an  equiva- 
lent amount  of  flesh ;  and  these  changes  would  be  continued  ad  infinitum. 

"  It  fortunately  happens  that  those  constituents  of  food  which  are  eliminated  by 
the  lungs  are  derived  solely  from  the  atmosphere,  and,  as  there  is  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  these  in  the  atmosphere,  no  restoration  of  them  to  a  soil  is  required. 
On  the  other  hand,  those  eliminated  by  the  kidneys  and  intestines,  are  derived 
exclusively  from  the  soil,  and,  consequently,  require  restoring,  in  order  to  main- 
tain its  fertility." 

*  #  »  »  #  44  » 

"  Thus  we  export  from  tlie  fifty  acres  of  wheat  and  barley,  and  the  fifty  acres 
of  green  crops,  by  one  hundred  young  lambs,  forty  yearlings,  four  young  cows, 
four  calves,  and  two  horses,  the  following  quantity  of  those  constituents  of  a  soil 
which  enter  into  the  composition  of  plants :  — 

Potash  and  soda, 780  lbs. 

Lime  and  magnesia, 948  « 

Phosphoric  acid, 1549  " 

Sulphates  and  chlorides, 21  " 

Silica, 450  « 

Metallic  oxides, 8  " 

Nitrogen, 2681  « 

« It  will  be  seen  from  the  tables  of  the  constituents  of  food,  that  the  ingredients 
contained  in  the  liquid  and  solid  excrements  of  one  hundred  individuals,  and  the 


W6 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


bat  chance  animals ;  in  one  case^  the  yield  had  averaged  seven 
pounds  of  butter  each,  per  week ;  in  another  case,  nine  pounds 
had  been  obtained,  when  another  cow,  which  was  grazed  in  the 
pasture,  yielded  a  very  inferior  quantity.  The  cows  stood  in 
well-ventilated  stalls,  in  one  case  upon  a  stone  pavement,  in 
another  upon  hard-trodden  earth ;  were  well  littered,  and  kept 
quite  clean.     The  whole  of  the  manure  is  saved  in  this  way,  and 

bones  preserved  from  tlieir  food,  exceed  the  above  quantity  in  every  substance 
except  nitrogen  and  silica ;  but  the  deficiency  in  these  substances  will  be  much 
more  than  compensated  by  the  atmosphere  in  the  former  case,  and  by  the  soil  in 
the  latter ;  so  that  I  should  not  have  the  least  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  excre- 
ments of  one  hundred  inmates  of  your  Asylum,  or  any  other,  where  the  supply  of 
food  is  similar  to  the  above,  would  keep  one  hundred  acres  of  land  on  the  common 
four-course  system  of  rotation  in  a  constant  state  of  fertility.  It  appears  from  the 
calculations  I  have  made,  tha{  for  every  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  flesh 
produced,  the  elements  of  one  acre  of  ground  are  extracted  annually  on  the  four- 
course  system,  and  assimilated  by  the  animals  consuming  it ;  from  which  it  follows, 
that  for  every  additional  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  flesh  produced,  above 
the  quantity  here  given,  the  entire  excretions  of  one  man  will  be  required.  I 
have  purposely  omitted  the  pigs  in  the  above  account,  as  they  would  live  entirely 
on  the  grains  from  the  brewhouse  and  the  refuse  from  the  kitchen. 

"  Should  you  think  it  feasible  to  grow  a  succession  of  wheat  crops,  without  any 
intermission  of  green  food,  then  the  above  quantity  of  ingredients  would  very  well 
supply  sixty  acres.  The  object  of  growing  crops  of  turnips,  clover,  &c.,  is  to 
allow  time  for  those  constituents  of  white  crops  which  exist  in  the  soil,  in  an 
insoluble  state,  to  become  soluble  by  the  action  of  the  atmosphere  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  supply  them.  Were  the  whole  of  these  added  annually  to  a  soil  in 
the  form  of  manure,  no  rest  would  be  required,  and  a  succession  of  white  crops 
might  thus  be  produced  indefinitely.  The  cause  of  this  not  having  been  profita- 
bly accomplished  hitherto,  is  not  so  much  from  any  difficulty  which  attends  it,  as 
from  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  the  farmer,  or  his  ignorance  of  the  mode  of 
proceeding.  Had  a  portion  of  those  liquid  manures,  which  are  suffered  to  run  to 
waste,  from  every  town  and  farm-yard  in  the  kingdom,  been  used  for  this  purpose, 
success  would  in  all  cases  have  attended  the  experiment ;  for  these  contain  the 
very  elements,  which  are  rendered  soluble  in  every  soil  by  the  year's  rest,  and 
which,  being  assimilated  by  the  plant,  and  afterwards  removed  in  the  grain,  are 
allowed  to  run  to  waste  in  the  following  year." 

I  cannot  with  entire  confidence  endorse  JNIr.  Haywood's  views,  especially  on 
the  theory  of  vegetation,  in  respect  to  the  cultivation  of  the  same  crops  in  succes- 
sion, on  the  same  soil.  It  cannot  be  said  to  be  yet  determined  whether  a  change 
of  crop  is  rendered  necessary  by  the  abstraction  of  certain  ingredients  of  the  soil, 
which  are  again  supplied  to  it  by  the  influence  of  the  atmosphere  upon  it  when  in 
a  state  of  rest,  or  by  the  excretions  of  the  crop,  according  to  the  notions  of  Decan- 
dolle,  which  are  poisonous  to  a  crop  of  the  same  kind  coming  in  immediate  succes- 
sion ;  but  the  quotations  which  I  have  given  from  his  paper  show  the  workings  of 
a  laborious  and  inquisitive  mind,  upon  a  homely,  and  at  the  same  time  an  impor- 
tant subject. 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  ^11^ 

the  amount  is  much  beyond  what  would  be  thought,  where  the 
experiment  had  not  been  made. 

There   was    another    economical   arrangement  h^^i  .which  . 
attracted  my  attention.     Two  or  three  of  the  allotments,  with  ' 
their  buildings,  were  on  elevated  land,  where  wells '9ouldijQt';b§; 
sunk  but  at  great  expense,  and  a  supply  of  water  would  be  iiii-' 
certain.     In  this  case,  tanks  were  formed  about  eight  feet  in 
diameter,  by  twelve  in  depth,  into  which  the  rain  water  from  the 
roof  of  the  house  and  the  stable  attached  to  the  house  was  led  : 
and  thus,  as  experience  had  proved,  an  ample  supply  of  pure 
water  was  obtained  for  the  use  of  the  family  and  the  stock,  at  a 
small  expense.     These  tanks  were  surmounted  with  a  cast-iron 
frame,  which  fiurnished  a  strong  cover  and  a  small  windlass  by 
which  the  water  was  drawn.     These  tanks  were  formed  of  stone 
found  upon  the  place,  laid  in  mortar,  and  carefully  cemented  by 
gray  lime  mortar. 

The  cows  were  kept  in  a  stable  connected  with  the  house, 
over  which  were  the  school-room  and  the  threshing-floor.  The 
grain,  with  the  hay  that  was  cut,  of  which  there  was  very  little, 
was  stacked  out  of  doors ;  and  the  cows  were  fed,  almost  exclu- 
sively, in  winter,  upon  turnips  or  mangel-wurzel  and  straw.  I 
have  no  doubt  a  more  liberal  feeding  would  have  been  found 
profitable,  but  they  were  under  the  necessity  of  getting  along 
with  the  most  limited  and  simple  resources. 

This  management  showed  conclusively,  in  the  fourth  place, 
that,  where  the  resources  are  all  carefully  husbanded,  and  the 
produce  consumed  upon  the  farm,  the  land  is  capable  of  keeping 
itself  in  condition.  The  grain  which  was  grown  here  was 
mainly  sold  in  order  to  pay  the  rent ;  but  the  rest  of  the  produce 
was  used  for  the  animals  within  doors  and  without.  The  crops 
were  certainly  good ;  the  wheat  yielding  about  forty  bushels  per 
acre,  and  the  potatoes  from  three  to  four  hundred  bushels.  The 
clover  was  usually  mowed  three  times  in  a  season,  and  the  first 
mowing  was  made  into  hay  for  winter  resource  ;  the  lucern  was 
fed  green,  and  was  mowed  five  times.  The  success  of  the  crop 
depended  much,  without  doubt,  upon  the  immediate  application 
of  the  liquid  manure.  A  rotation  of  crops  is  made  absolute  by 
the  conditions  of  the  lease,  so  that  two  white  crops  may  not 
follow  each  other  without  the  intervention  of  a  green  crop.  The 
clover  crop  of  Mr.  Cruttenden  had  sulFered  a  good  deal  from  the 
9* 


102  EUROPEAN    AGRJCULTLRE. 

wire-worm,  which  he  attributed  to  keeping  the  crop  two  years 
on  the  ground.     I  do  not  know  how  far  the  supposition  is  well 

'  'II  f*  founded,  3>ut:it. deserves  attention.  A  great  problem,  then,  is  here 
solved,  if;  to  any.  intelligent  minds,  it  has  been  matter  of  question, 

,  2  ^/^  \thkti  where  the.  product  is  consumed  upon  a  farm,  it  may  be 
made  to  furnish  an  ample  supply  of  the  means  not  only  for 
maintaining  but  improving  its  condition.  I  do  not  say  that 
manures  may  not  often  be  purchased  to  a  great  advantage  ;  and  un- 
doubtedly a  supply  from  other  sources  is  indispensable  where  much 
of  the  produce  is  sold  from  the  farm.  I  have  no  doubt,  likewise, 
that  even  these  small  farmers  would  find  their  account  in  extend- 
ing their  live  stock,  and  purchasing  oil-cake,  which  makes  a  most 
emiching  manure,  or  other  substances,  for  their  consumption.  A 
farmer  in  Lincolnshire,  of  whose  successful  management  I  shall 
presently  give  a  full  account,  is  of  an  opinion  that  his  profits 
have  regularly  increased  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  oil-cake 
which  he  has  purchased  for  the  consumption  of  his  stock.  There 
are,  undoubtedly,  many  cases  in  which  the  application  of  mineral 
manures  may  be  both  useful  and  indispensable,  and  fully  repay 
any  reasonable  outlay  which  may  be  required  for  their  purchase. 
It  is  not  certain  that  even  these  small  farmers  had  availed  them- 
selves of  all  the  resources  within  their  reach.  Nor  had  either  of 
them  any  advantage  from  the  clearing  out  of  ditches,  from  bog- 
mud,  or  from  deposits  of  marl.  Nor  had  either  of  them,  that  I 
could  learn,  made  any  experiments  in  turning  in  green  crops  with 
a  view  to  enriching  the  soil.  The  experiments,  therefore,  must 
still  be  considered  as  imperfect,  and  yet  conclusive  as  to  the 
recuperative  poAver  of  the  soil  from  the  economical  use  and 
application  of  the  results  of  its  own  products.  This  teaches  a 
lesson  to  large  farmers  of  the  highest  importance  ;  for,  while  trade 
and  commerce  depend,  to  a  considerable  degree,  upon  large  invest- 
ments and  successful  adventures,  the  success  of  agricultural 
operations  depends  most  essentially  upon  the  limitation  of  unpro- 
ductive expenses,  and  the  most  careful  application  and  use  of  the 
products  of  the  farm.  In  too  many  cases  it  happens,  as  Scott  has 
described  the  farming  operations  of  Triptolemus  Yellowley,  "  the 
carles  and  the  cart-avers  make  it  all,  and  the  carles  and 
cart-avers  eat  it  all." 

It  was  another  beautiful  circumstance  in  the  case,  that  three  of 
these  individuals,  who,  with  their  families,  were  now  subsisting 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  103 

independently  upon  the  fruits  of  their  own  labor,  had  been  ten- 
ants of  an  alms-house,  where  their  spirits  were  broken  down, 
their  children  separated  from  them,  husband  and  wife  divided, 
and  all  power  of  mending  their  condition  efiectually  taken  away. 
New  life  was  imparted  to  them  as  soon  as  they  were  uncaged, 
and  an  opportunity  afforded  of  obtaining  from  the  prolific  earth, 
by  their  own  willing  labor,  that  support  which  Heaven  formed  it 
to  yield  to  well-directed  industry.  Separate  from  all  moral  con- 
siderations, instead  of  being  a  burden  and  an  expense,  to  the 
community,  they  now  became  themselves  aids  to  bear  these 
burdens  and  to  share  in  these  expenses.  This  was  an  immense 
gain ;  and,  regarded  by  a  reflecting  mind  in  all  its  various  bear- 
ings upon  the  community  and  upon  themselves,  its  value  cannot 
be  overstated. 

There  was  another  circumstance  in  the  case,  to  which  I  cannot 
help  referring  with  peculiar  pleasure ;  and  that  is,  the  provision 
made  by  the  labor  of  the  boys  for  their  own  education.  The 
education,  it  is  true,  is  of  a  very  limited  description.  It  embraces 
only  reading,  writing,  the  first  principles  or  rules  of  arithmetic, 
and  instruction  in  the  elements  and  formularies  of  the  established 
religion.  Even  this  was  a  great  gain.  To  be  taught  even  the 
use  of  their  own  minds,  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  is  a  great 
gain ;  to  have  even  a  few  scattered  rays  of  intellectual  light 
poured  into  the  darkened  soul,  may  call  into  powerful  exercise  the 
desire  of  knowledge,  which  will  impatiently  search  for  the  means 
of  further  gratification,  and  invent  resources  for  itself.  Its  effect 
must  be  to  elevate  a  human  being,  from  a  mere  senseless  imple- 
ment or  machine,  into  a  consciousness  of  his  own  intellectual 
nature,  and  bring  with  it  a  degree  of  self-respect,  which,  in  its 
humblest  form,  cannot  but  be  favorable  to  good  conduct  and 
virtue.  But  the  children  found  at  these  schools,  in  addition  to 
mental  instruction,  that  which  many  schools  of  a  higher  descrip- 
tion do  not  furnish.  They  were  trained  to  habits  of  regular  and 
useful  industry,  instructed  in  the  arts  of  husbandry,  and  in  the 
most  intelligent  and  economical  application  of  labor.  To  what 
better  school  could  they  be  sent  ?  Under  what  better  discipline 
could  they  be  trained  ?  I  can  fully  understand  how  much  in 
this  case,  as  in  all  others,  must  depend  upon  the  character  of  the 
teacher  ;  and  I  can  easily  suppose  that  it  may  be  necessary  often, 
especially  in  a  first  attempt  like  this,  to  work  with  very  imperfect 


104  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

instruments.  But  while  every  proper  precaution  is  taken  to 
secure  a  good  moral  character  in  the  teacher,  and  all  practicable 
guaj-ds  are  placed  over  his  conduct  by  his  success  being  made 
entirely  dependent  upon  its  correctness,  a  good  deal,  certainly,  is 
done ;  and  better  minds,  and  persons  of  higher  qualifications,  from 
the  success  of  these  experiments,  may  presently  be  induced  to 
seek  these  situations,  in  a  country  where  the  means  of  subsist- 
ence and  profitable  employment  are,  from  the  redundance  of  the 
population,  becoming  every  day  more  difficult. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  farmers  in  general  —  perhaps  it 
would  be  more  just  to  say,  that  many  farmers  —  look  with  very  ill- 
humor  upon  the  allotment  system,  and  are  opposed  to  granting 
land  for  these  objects,  even  when  their  landlords  desire  it.  I  have 
found  no  instance  of  a  landlord  opposed  to  it,  though  I  have 
found  with  them  a  prevalent  disposition  to  limit  the  allotment  to 
a  very  small  size.  I  am  not  willing  to  impute  motives  where 
they  are  not  avowed.  I  have  seen  too  many  instances  of  the 
highest  and  best  minds  acting  under  very  partial  and  mistaken 
views,  in  a  manner  unworthy  of  them,  to  allow  me  to  commit 
myself  by  any  harsh  judgment.  The  farmers,  it  is  said,  are 
prejudiced  against  allotments,  because  the  crops  obtained  under 
this  limited  and  minute  cultivation  throw  their  own  inferior  crops 
into  the  shade,  or,  by  demonstrating  what  the  land  is  capable  of 
producing,  may  induce  their  landlords  to  raise  their  rents.  It  is 
alleged,  further,  that  the  farmers  are  not  willing  in  any  way  to 
diminish  the  dependence  of  the  laborers  upon  their  favor,  as  it 
might  give  them  the  power  of  demanding  a  higher  rate  of  wages. 
The  farmers,  in  the  next  place,  it  is  said,  are  not  willing  that 
their  laborers  should  appear  in  the  public  markets  as  sellers  of 
produce,  which,  if  the  competition  was  not  to  be  regarded  as 
affecting  prices,  yet  it  might  inspire  them  with  a  hurtful  sense  of 
their  own  importance.  I  report  here  only  the  suggestions  of 
others,  and  presume  to  hazard  no  judgment.  The  motives 
named  are,  alas !  but  too  consistent  with  the  weakness  and  the 
too  often  unrestrained  selfishness  of  human  nature.  Every  man, 
certainly,  has  a  fair  right  ''  to  live  ;  "  and  the  duty  of  every  just 
man  is  "  to  let  him  live."  Blessed  will  be  the  day,  if  come  it  ever 
should,  when  every  man  will  learn  that  his  own  true  prosperity 
is  essentially  concerned  in  the  prosperity  of  his  neighbor,  and 
that  no  gratification  on  earth,  to  a  good  mind,  is  more  delicious 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  105 

than  that  which  is  reflected  from  the  happiness  of  another,  to 
which  he  has  been  himself  instrumental.  I  hope  my  readers 
will  not  consider  these  reflections  misplaced.  It  is  evident  that 
the  farmers  have  no  direct  pecuniary  interest  in  the  success  of 
their  laborers,  as  far  as  that  success  might  save  them  from  be- 
coming a  tax  upon  the  public.  This  tax,  though  always  assessed 
by  the  farmers  as  guardians  of  the  poor,  is  yet  always  paid  by 
the  landlord.  It  is  collected  from  the  farmer  ;  but  the  amount  of 
rent  which  he  pays  for  his  land  is  always  regulated  by  the 
amount  of  taxes  by  which  the  land  is  burdened.  If  any  of  the 
motives  which  have  been  assigned  do  prevail  with  the  farmers,  one 
can  scarcely  exaggerate  the  meanness  and  unworthiness  of  such 
motives,  and  can  only  desire  that  these  persons  may  have  juster 
views  of  what  they  owe  to  themselves,  and  to  those  whom  the 
dispensations  of  Providence  have  made  in  a  degree  dependent 
upon  their  favor. 

I  am  sorry  to  add  my  strong  conviction,  that  the  education  of 
the  laboring  classes  is  not  viewed  with  favor  by  some  who  move 
in  a  higher  condition  of  life ;  at  least  that  they  consider  it  of 
doubtful  value,  and  are  desirous  of  keeping  it  within  the  most 
restricted  limits.  There  are,  indeed,  many  noble  minds,  who, 
properly  appreciating  its  immense  value,  are  willing  to  impart  as 
liberally  as  they  have  themselves  received,  and  heartily  aid  all 
eff'orts  to  extend  its  advanteiges  to  every  individual  in  the  com- 
munity ;  but  this  feeling  does  not  appear  to  me  general.  Every 
allowance  is  to  be  made  for  a  condition  of  society  where  different 
ranks  are  established ;  where  the  lines  of  demarkation  are  main- 
tained with  extreme  pertinacity ;  where  there  can  be  no  high 
rank  but  as  there  is  a  low  one ;  and  where,  according  to  the 
depression  of  the  one,  the  elevation  of  the  other  seems  increased. 
Every  approach,  therefore,  in  this  direction,  is  likely  to  be  resisted  : 
and  this  feeling  of  superiority  pervades,  with  an  almost  equal 
intensity,  every  class  in  society,  above  the  lowest,  from  the  master 
of  the  household  to  the  most  menial  beneath  whom  there  is  any 
lower  depth.  Education  is  the  great  leveller  of  all  artificial 
distinctions,  and  may,  therefore,  well  be  looked  upon  with 
jealousy. 

There  is  wanting,  likewise,  that  just  appreciation  of  the  value 
and  benefits  of  universal  education,  which  can  hardly  be  looked 
for  but  among  those  who  have  lived  in  a  community  where  its 


106  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

facilities  and  advantages  are  enjoyed  by  every  individual  as  freely 
as  the  sunshine  and  the  rain.  While  I  am  writing,  a  highly- 
respectable  clergyman,  not  wanting  in  a  benevolent  regard  for  his 
fellow-men,  has  said  to  me  that  ''  the  most  limited  education  is 
all  that  is  wanted  for  these  persons,  as  more  would  make  them 
discontented  with  their  condition ;  and  if  they  can  read  their 
Bibles  and  prayer-books,  it  is  quite  sufficient ;  "  and  this  same  re- 
mark I  have  heard  several  times  from  others.  I  cannot  say  that 
I  have  not  heard  the  education  of  the  lower  classes  spoken  of,  by 
persons  apparently  respectable,  in  very  harsh  terms,  and  in  terms 
with  which  I  should  be  unwilling  to  stain  my  pages.  I  will  only 
add  that  I  deem  such  views  entirely  erroneous  and  unfounded.  If, 
indeed,  there  are  good  reasons  for  the  laborers  being  discontented 
with  their  condition,  let  the  evils  of  it  be  remedied.  But  if  it 
be  a  discontent  arising  from  circumstances  of  hardship  —  if  so  they 
must  be  deemed  —  which  no  human  power  can  remedy,  education, 
besides  furnishing  in  itself  resources  to  mitigate  these  evils,  will 
serve  to  give  them  more  just  views  of  human  life,  and  to  recon- 
cile them  to  a  condition  which  the  divine  Providence  has  made 
inevitable.  If  education  has  a  tendency  to  make  persons  discon- 
tented with  their  condition,  is  it  not  equally  objectionable  in 
respect  to  other  classes  in  the  community  who  find  others  above 
them  ?  and  in  truth,  as  far  as  my  own  observation  goes,  the  rich 
and  the  elevated  are  quite  as  subject  to  discontent  as  the  poor 
and  restricted,  from  whom  the  luring  baits  of  ambition  and 
avarice  are  absolutely  withheld. 

That  condition  of  society  is  of  all  others  most  favorable  to 
improvement,  and  to  the  development  of  the  best  elements 
of  human  nature,  where  every  means  of  improvement  is  fnr- 
nished  without  restraint,  and  where  men  become  the  creators  of 
their  own  fortune.  The  favorite  maxim  of  the  great  French 
emperor  was,  ''Let  the  career  be  open  to  talents."  In  New 
England,  this  great  principle  every  where  prevails ;  and  here, 
where  the  advantages  of  education  are  freely  offered  to  all,  and 
the  highest  conditions  of  influence  and  honor  are  equally  acces- 
sible to  all,  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  no  evils  have  grown 
out  of  it,  and  that  its  moral  and  social  influences  have  been  the 
best  which  the  most  philanthropic  could  have  desired.  In  New 
England,  where,  even  among  the  most  humble  classes  of  society, 
the  literary  attainments  are  often  respectable,  there  will  be  found 


ALLOTMENT    SYSTEM.  107 

among  those  classes  the  most  devoted  friends  to  public  order,  and 
the  most  stanch  supporters  of  her  social  institutions.  I  trust  I 
shall  not  be  thought  to  speak  with  an  undue  enthusiasm  in 
saying,  that  the  time  has  now  come  when  there  should  be  recog- 
nized in  every  human  form  a  moral  and  an  immortal  mind ;  that 
the  ore  in  this  quarry  should  be  brought  out  and  polished ;  and 
that  the  higher  conditions  of  life  will  be  themselves  elevated,  and 
the  whole  community  advantaged,  by  all  improvement  of  the 
lower  classes.  The  subsoil  plough  is  deemed  the  great  discovery 
of  modern  agriculture  ;  and  by  bringing  the  lower  strata  up,  and 
mingling  them  with  the  surface  soil,  and  exposing  them  to  the 
same  genial  influences  of  sunshine  and  air,  it  will  not  be  denied 
that  the  whole,  without  injury  to  any,  has  been  rendered  the 
more  productive. 

The  experiments  of  the  public-spirited  proprietor  of  these  allot- 
ments have  been  perfectly  successful  in  a  pecuniary  view.  I 
have  seen  the  accounts.  The  rents  have  been  paid  with  punc- 
tuality. There  has  been  no  distress  levied,  and,  among  upwards 
of  four  hundred  tenants,  scarcely  an  instance  of  failure  to  pay. 
The  rents  demanded  have  been  fully  equal  to  those  received  for 
lands  in  the  vicinity,  of  the  same  quality,  held  in  large  farms ;  in- 
deed, they  have  exceeded  them.  At  starting,  she  has  found  it 
necessary  to  assist  her  poor  tenants  in  the  purchase  of  tools  and 
stock ;  but  these  obligations  are  required  to  be  liquidated. 

The  allotments  are  held  in  the  following  amounts :  — 


[n  4  rod 

pieces,  3 ; 

in  13  rod 

pieces,  1 ; 

in  i  acre,  13 ; 

u     5     u 

5; 

"  16 

1; 

a   a       a       2  • 

tc     >Y    a 

5; 

"  20 

75', 

"  1      "22; 

11    8   « 

75; 

''  24 

2; 

"  2  acres,  9  ; 

u    9    " 

8; 

''  30 

5; 

u   4       a       2; 

"10    " 

6; 

"  40 

108; 

"5      "      5; 

"12    " 

71; 

"  60 

2; 

"  9      "      1. 

Total,  421  allotments.  Amount  of  rent  received,  £428  8  s.  5jd. 
This  is  without  houses  or  barns,  the  rent  of  which  is  a  separate 
charge. 

Of  the  occupants,  the  following  are  stated  to  be  the  number  in 
the  families  supported  from  the  land,  with  the  exception  of  the 
small  income  from  the  instruction  money. 


108  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

4  acres,  4  persons  in  family ;     3  acres,  6  persons  in  family ; 
g      <<       "^       ic        CI       u  5      "       9       '^        "       " 

g       «         "^  II  a         u  5       ''         6         "  "         " 

39  persons  ;  28  acres. 

I  submit  these  facts  to  my  American  friends  as  exceedingly 
curious.  With  us  the  land  is  not  locked  up  by  patents,  entail,  or 
mortmain.  With  us  land  is  every  where  attainable,  and  at  prices 
which  bring  it  within  the  reach  of  every  industrious  and  frugal 
man.  But  it  will,  I  think,  be  interesting  to  look  at  these  humble 
instances  of  domestic  economy ;  and  they  must  stimulate  the 
most  useful  inquiry  into  the  productive  capacities  of  the  land, 
which  seem  as  yet  to  be  very  imperfectly  developed.  We  are, 
likewise,  not  without  our  poor  in  the  United  States  ;  and  the  vast 
influx  of  destitute  emigrants  is  constantly  augmenting  the  number. 
For  idleness  and  profligacy  there  is  no  just  claim  upon  public 
compassion ;  but  I  am  convinced  that  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  poor  would  be  glad  to  earn  their  own  living  if  they  could  be 
put  in  the  way  of  doing  it.  Whatever  contributes  to  this  object 
confers  a  public  benefit. 

It  would  be  wrong  for  me  to  quit  this  topic  without  adding, 
that,  since  my  First  Report,  I  have  visited  portions  of  the  country 
where,  on  the  estates  of  some  very  large  proprietors,  (to  one  of 
whom  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  are  under  the  highest 
obligations  for  adjusting  their  conflicting  claims,  and  through 
whose  beautiful  grounds  I  rode  eight  continuous  miles,)  the 
cottages  of  the  laborers  were  of  the  very  best  description ;  and 
their  establishments,  both  within  and  without  doors,  indicated  the 
greatest  neatness  and  comfort.  Gardens  for  fruit,  vegetables,  and 
flowers,  were  attached  to  all  of  them ;  and  they  were  charming 
pictures  of  rural  taste  and  embellishment.  Many  of  these  persons 
had  likewise  small  allotments  of  land.  The  wages  paid  to  the 
men  were  from  10  s.  to  12  s.  per  week,  and  to  the  women  8  d. 
per  day  while  at  work.  This,  of  course,  however,  with  the 
current  expenses  of  living,  did  not  allow  them  to  accumulate  any 
thing  for  sickness  or  old  age.  During  the  four  weeks  of  harvest, 
by  working  by  the  piece,  the  laborer  would  sometimes  earn  more 
than  20  s.  per  week ;  and  the  women  and  children,  by  gleaning  the 
scattered  heads  of  wheat  after  the  field  is  cleared  of  the  crop,  or,  as 


QUANTITY    OF     SEED.  109 

it  is  here  called,  by  leesing^  not  infrequently  collect  four  or  five 
bushels  of  grain.  I  have  met  with  instances,  where  even  more 
has  been  collected.  Such  are  the  fruits  of  the  most  exact 
frugality. 


XIV.  —  QUANTITY    OF    SEED. 

The  quantity  of  seed  proper  to  be  sown  has  been  a  subject  of 
much  debate.  There  may  be  an  excess ;  and  an  error  may  be 
committed  by  sowing  too  small  a  quantity.  An  intelligent 
farmer  makes  the  following  calculation  of  the  advantage  and 
saving  which  would  come  to  the  country,  if,  instead  of  sowing 
two  and  a  half  bushels  of  seed  to  the  acre,  it  should  be  found,  as 
he  maintains  from  his  own  practice  and  experience,  it  is  sufficient 
to  sow  one  bushel  to  the  acre. 

"Allowing,"  he  says,  "that,  upon  a  fair  calculation,  7,085,370 
acres  are  annually  sown  in  the  kingdom,  in  wheat,  at  the  rate  of 
two  and  a  half  bushels  per  acre,  which  is  the  ordinary  allowance, 
there  would  be  required  2,214,178  quarters  (eight  bushels  per 
quarter)  for  seed.  But  to  sow  one  bushel  per  acre,  only  885,671 
quarters  would  be  required ;  so  that  the  annual  saving  of  seed 
would  be  10,628,056  bushels,  or  5,901,192  bushels  more  than 
the  average  importation  of  foreign  corn  the  last  fourteen  years. 
Though  I  merely  take  the  instance  of  wheat,  I  am  at  the  same 
time  proving  what  may  be  done  with  all  other  corn ;  for  the 
saving  of  seed,  which  I  practise,  is  in  equal  proportions  with  all 
other  kinds  of  grain,  and  with  equal  success." 

The  testimony  of  this  farmer  is  so  important  that  I  shall  be 
excused  for  speaking  more  at  large  on  this  subject.  This  gentle- 
man has  been  a  practical  farmer  of  more  than  seven  hundred 
acres  of  highly-rented,  poor  land ;  and  what  he  recommends,  he 
says,  he  has  long  and  successfully  practised  —  that  he  grows  crops 
much  larger  than  the  general  average,  and  on  soils  of  inferior 
description,  and  with  less  than  the  ordinary  expenditure  of  labor 
and  manure. 

I  will  allow  him  to  speak  for  himself;  and  the  results  with 
him,  and  the  account  of  the  proportion  of  seed  for  an  acre  used  at 
Horsham,  in  the  experiment  which  I  have  detailed  above,  aflford 
10 


110  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

the  strongest  reason,  if  for  nothing  else,  for  making  further  and 
more  exact  trials.  The  subject  is  clearly  one  of  the  first  impor- 
tance. 

"  The  practice  throughout  England  is  to  sow  two  and  a  half 
and  three  bushels  per  acre,  and  the  yield  is  seldom  forty  bushels, 
and  more  commonly  only  twenty  bushels ;  and  one  tenth,  at  least, 
of  the  crop  grown,  is  consumed  in  seed.  These  facts,  and  the 
knowledge  that  a  single  grain  of  wheat  planted  where  it  has 
room  to  tiller  out,  will  readily  produce  four  hundred  fold,  and 
often  very  much  more,  have  induced  me,  in  the  course  of  the  last 
eleven  years,  to  make  a  variety  of  experiments,  the  results  of 
which  have  shown  me,  that,  independent  of  the  waste,  a  positive 
and  serious  injury  is  done  to  the  crop  from  so  much  seed ;  and 
the  result  is  perfectly  analogous  to  attempting  to  feed  four  animals 
upon  a  pasture  sufficient  only  for  one ;  and,  in  consequence,  I 
have  gradually  reduced  my  proportion  of  seed-wheat  from  three 
bushels  per  acre,  which  was  my  practice,  down  to  about  three 
pecks,  which  reduction  I  have  accomplished  to  the  evident  im- 
provement of  my  crops. 

"  My  practice  is  to  drill  every  thing,  (clover  seed  alone  ex- 
cepted;) to  carefully  horse-hoe,  hand-hoe,  and  weed,  so  that 
the  land  may  be  kept  perfectly  free  from  weeds,  and  the  soil 
between  the  rows  may  be  stirred,  and  receive  the  benefit  of  fine 
tilth  and  cultivation,  of  which  gardeners  are  sensible ;  but  by 
farmers  this  is  lost  sight  of,  or  not  sufficiently  attended  to.  My 
rye  and  tares  for  green  feeding  are  sown  in  rows  at  nine-inch 
intervals ;  all  my  white  corn  at  twelve  inches ;  my  pulse  at 
twenty-seven  inches ;  and  my  root  crops,  on  the  ridge,  at  twenty- 
seven  inches. 

"  My  proportions  of  seed  per  acre  are  as  follows  :  — 

Of  rye,  1 J  bushel ;  Of  oats,  8  pecks  ,* 

"   tares,  IJ  do. ;  "   barley,  7  do.  j 

"  mangel-wurzel,  6  lbs.  ;  ''   wheat,  3  do.  ; 

"   swedes,  1  quart ;  "    peas,  8  do. ; 

"    turnips,  1  do. ;  ''   beans,  8  do." 
'•   cabbages,  1  every  three  feet ; 

After  detailing  his  mode  of  cultivation,  to  which  I  shall  here- 
after refer,  he  goes  on  to  say,  ''  I  have  frequently  produced  above 


QUANTITY    OF     SEED.  Ill 

five  quarters  (forty  bushels)  to  the  acre,  and  have  grown  above 
thirteen  quarters  of  oats,  (one  hundred  and  four  bushels,)  and 
above  eight  of  barley,  (forty  bushels.)  Having  shown  the  suc- 
cess, on  an  extensive  scale,  with  thin  sowing,  I  will  explain  why 
it  is  that  three  pecks  of  seed- wheat  must  be  much  nearer  the 
correct  quantity  than  ten  or  twelve  pecks ;  and  that  any  surplus 
of  seed  beyond  a  bushel  must  be  very  injurious  to  the  latter 
growth  of  the  crop.  The  produce  of  one  ear  of  thick-sown 
wheat  yields  about  forty  grains,  (I  say  thick-sown,  for  thin-sown 
yields  very  much  more,)  and,  therefore,  the  produce  of  an  acre 
(or  twenty  bushels,  the  ordinary  average)  must  be,  no  matter 
how  much  has  been  sown,  the  growth  of  the  ears  from  one 
fortieth,  or  two  pecks  of  seed,  (and  that,  too,  is  allowing  only  one 
ear  to  grow  from  each  grain,  and  forty  grains  from  an  ear.) 
This  being  the  fact,  of  what  use  are,  I  ask,  or  what  becomes  of, 
the  remaining  eight  or  ten  pecks  of  seed,  which  are  commonly 
sown?  But,  in  allowing  one  ear  only  to  grow  from  a  grain  of 
seed,  and  each  ear  to  contain  only  forty  grains,  I  am  far  from 
taking  what  in  reality  would  be  the  produce  ;  for  a  single  grain, 
having  room,  will  throw  up  ten  or  twelve  ears,  and  these  ears  will 
each  contain  from  sixty  to  eighty  grains ;  and,  supposing  some  of 
my  small  allowance  to  be  lost  or  destroyed,  the  deficiency  of 
plant  is  immediately  met  by  the  larger  size  of  the  ear,  and  by 
the  tillering  which  is  made,  and  the  additional  ears  so  produced, 
wherever  room  admits  of  the  increase. 

*' Among  the  many  proofs  I  have  had  of  the  advant£iges 
from  thin  sowing,  the  following  is  a  striking  fact :  In  the 
autumn  of  1840,  I  had  to  sow  with  wheat  a  field  of  eight  acres, 
and  I  gave  out  seven  bushels  for  the  seed ;  but  owing  to  an  error 
of  the  drill-man  in  setting  the  drill,  when  he  had  sown  half  the 
field,  he  found  that  he  had  not  put  on  half  the  seed ;  but  that  1 
might  not  discover,  by  the  overplus,  his  error,  he  altered  the 
drill,  so  as  to  sow  the  rest  on  the  remainder  of  the  field  ;  and  in 
this  way  one  half  of  the  field  had  little  more  than  two  pecks  to 
the  acre,  while  the  rest  had  nearly  five  pecks.  I  did  not  know 
of  the  error,  and  was  surprised,  in  the  winter,  by  finding  part  of 
the  field  so  thin,  and,  had  not  the  rest  of  the  field  looked  much 
better,  should  have  ploughed  it  up ;  but  at  harvest  the  thinnest- 
sown  half  proved  the  best ;  and  I  should  never  have  known  the 
error  of  sowing  but  for  this  fact  having  induced  the  carter  to 
point  it  out  to  me." 


112  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

'•'  At  first,  no  matter  how  much  seed  has  been  sown,  nearly 
every  grain  vegetates  and  finds  space  to  grow ;  and  in  the  early 
stages,  when  the  air  and  soil  are  moist,  and  the  plants  small, 
there  is  food  fi)r  all.  But  as  the  plants  increase,  a  struggle  for 
room  and  nourishment  commences,  which  increases  with  their 
growth,  and  finally  terminates  by  the  destruction  of  the  weaker 
by  the  stronger  plants ;  but  not  until  after  a  contest,  lasting  up  to 
harvest,  which  leaves  the  survivors  stunted,  and  the  soil  ex- 
hausted by  having  had  to  support  three  plants  instead  of  one  ; 
and  producing  mischief,  which  is  frequently  the  cause  of  blight, 
mildew,  and  the  falling  of  the  crop. 

'^  It  is  to  this  I  would  principally  ascribe  th^  mildew,  and 
blight,  and  falling,  of  the  crop ;  for  so  far  my  practice  proves  it, 
that,  since  I  have  taken  to  sow  only  a  bushel  of  wheat  per  acre,  — 
and  I  have  done  so  now  for  some  years,  and  on  many  hundreds 
of  acres  of  wheat,  —  I  have  rarely  found  any  portion  afiected  by 
any  disease."  * 

This  is  certainly  strong  and  decisive  testimony,  and  shows 
how  deserving  the  subject  is  of  the  most  exact  and  repeated 
experiments.  Since  the  foregoing  account  of  the  Horsham 
experiment  of  the  last  season,  I  have  received  information  of  the 
result  of  a  second  experiment  made  this  season  by  the  same 
individual,  Mr.  Allman,  nursery-man  of  Horsham,  Sussex  county. 
He  has  dug  an  acre  of  land  with  spade  or  fork,  and  dibbled  it 
with  the  same  kind  of  wheat  which  he  sowed  the  previous  year, 
and  the  crop  is  fast  advancing  to  maturity.  The  amount  of  seed 
required  for  planting  the  acre,  one  grain  in  a  hole,  at  the  distance 
of  nine  by  six  inches,  was  a  little  more  than  one  and  a  half 
gallon ;  the  seed  was  covered  about  two  inches  in  depth ;  the 
cost  of  digging  the  ground  ten  inches  deep  was  2 J  d.  per  rod  ; 
the  cost  of  planting  or  dibbling  the  seed  was  10  s.  per  acre,  and 
the  expense  of  hoeing  it  was  7  s.  per  acre.  No  manure  has 
been  applied  to  the  land  this  year ;  but  of  the  character  of  the 
soil  I  am  not  informed.  I  am  assured  that  it  promises  to  yield 
as  well  as  it  did  the  last  season.  A  specimen  which  has  been 
sent  to  me  fully  ripe,  shows  an  equal  growth  both  in  the  size  of 
the  stalk,  which  is  more  than  five  feet,  and  in  the  number  of 
stems  from  a   single  seed.      I  shall   presently  have   an   exact 

"*  Hewitt  Davis,  on  thin,  sowing. 


QUANTITY    OF    SEED.  113 

account  of  the  result,  which  my  readers  will  receive  with  great 
interest.  The  expense  of  dibbling  by  hand  has  been  accurately 
kept,  and,  as  above,  in  point  of  cost,  would  show  a  great  saving 
in  comparison  with  even  the  best  machine.  The  increase  from 
a  single  seed  has  been  in  some  cases  most  extraordinary,  and 
shows  the  prolificness  —  may  I  not  properly  say  the  unstinted 
beneficence  ?  —  of  nature.  I  have  myself  counted,  from  a  single 
grain  of  wheat,  ninety-five  seed-bearing  stems ;  and  I  shall  give 
the  account  of  another  experiment,  the  product  of  which  I  saw. 

A  farmer,  B.  King,  at  Eastbourne,  Sussex  county,  on  the  22d 
July,  1841,  planted  three  grains  of  wheat ;  and  one  of  them  pro- 
duced a  root  with  upwards  of  a  hundred  ears. 

One  grain,  the  shoots  of  which  were  divided  and  transplanted 
tioice^  yielded,  in  1842,  tln-ee  pounds  twelve  and  three  quarter 
ounces  of  clear  grain ;  and  the  third  grain,  the  shoots  of  which 
were  divided  three  times,  yielded  seven  pounds  fifteen  ounces 
and  a  half.  The  whole  product  of  roots  from  this  grain  was 
173;  of  ears,  3272;  of  grains,  97,028,  and  the  weight  as 
above.  Half  an  ounce  of  this  wheat,  carefully  weighed,  con- 
tained 382  grains.  This  was  the  product  of  one  grain  in  one 
season,  which,  according  to  what  was  required  for  the  Horsham 
experiment,  would  be  sufficient,  in  the  second  year,  to  plant  two 
thirds  of  an  acre.  Of  course,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  such  an 
operation  as  taking  up  and  dividing  the  plants  could  be  economi- 
cally practised  to  any  great  extent ;  but  it  shows  how  very 
easily  and  soon  the  seed  of  any  valuable  variety  may  be  obtained 
with  a  little  pains-taking.  Some  of  the  most  esteemed  varieties 
of  wheat  have  been  procured  from  the  selection  of  a  single  head, 
which  showed  in  the  field  an  extraordinary  predominance  over 
its  neighbors.  This  is  understood  to  be  the  origin  of  the  cele- 
brated Chevalier  barley,  which  was  propagated  from  a  single  ear, 
found  by  a  gentleman  of  that  name  in  his  field,  and  carefully 
cultivated.  By  the  methods  adopted  above,  a  single  head  of 
wheat  might  be  made,  in  the  second  year,  to  furnish  a  supply  for 
acres ;  and  the  means  of  speedily  introducing  a  new  grain  into  a 
large  district  of  country,  might  be  transmitted  thousands  of  miles 
in  a  letter.  Such  are  the  facilities  of  improvement  which  a 
beneficent  Providence  ofifers  to  those  who  are  willing  to  use  them. 

An  experiment  of  a  similar  kind  was  made,  some  years  ago,  by 
a  Mr.  Miller,  and  reported  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Bath  AgricuK 
10* 


114  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

tural  Society,  in  which  the  result  of  the  cultivation  of  a  single 
season  was  even  much  more  extraordinary  than  the  above ;  but 
it  is  well  known  to  the  agricultural  world,  and  need  not  be 
restated. 


XV.  — STEEPING    SEEDS. 

I  may  as  well  here  as  any  where  recur  to  an  experiment  ex- 
hibited at  the  Dundee  Show,  of  the  effect  of  prepared  steeps  for 
seed.  It  excited  great  attention  on  that  occasion.  I  visited  the 
grounds  of  the  gentleman  who  made  the  experiment  ,*  and  he  has 
been  kind  enough  to  write  me,  on  the  subject,  a  letter,  which  1 
subjoin. 

"Seminaries,  Dundee,  13th  September^  1843. 

''  Sir, 

"  Since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  in  Edinburgh, 
I  have  thought  a  good  deal  about  the  way  in  which  I  ought  to 
proceed  as  to  concealing  for  a  time,  or  at  once  revealing,  my 
method  of  preparing  seeds,  so  as  to  produce  superior  crops  of 
grain.  I  have  at  last  determined  that  the  better  way  is  to  make 
the  process  known  to  the  heads  of  agricultural  societies. 

"  In  accordance  with  this  resolution,  I  have  written  to  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  as  president  of  both  the  National  Agricultural 
Institutions  of  Great  Britain,  and  to  the  president  of  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Improvement  Society  of  Ireland,  disclosing  the 
processes  which  I  have  used ;  and  I  now  do  the  same  to  you,  as 
agricultural  commissioner  from  the  United  States. 

"I  consider  this  plan  better,  in  every  respect,  than  sending 
prepared  specimens  of  seeds,  as  the  applications  for  these  might 
soon  become  too  numerous  to  be  attended  to. 

'^The  specimens  of  growing  corn,  which  I  exhibited  at  the 
show  here,  were  the  produce  of  seeds  steeped  in  sulphate,  nitrate, 
and  tnariate  of  ammonia  ;  7iitrates  of  soda  and  potass,  and  com- 
binations  of  these.  It  was  objected  by  some  that  the  tallest 
specimens  of  oats  were  too  rank,  and  would  break  down  before 
coming  to  the  ripened  seed.  I  should  by  no  means  be  afraid  of 
such  a  result,  as  the  stems  were  strong  in  proportion  to  their 


STEEPING    SEEDS.  115 

height ;  but  should  there  even  be  some  reason  in  the  objection, 
the  result  might  be  modified  by  a  modification  of  the  process. 
The  tallest  oats  were  prepared  from  sulphate  of  ammonia, 
and  I  am  convinced,  from  experiment,  that  the  addition  of  a  por- 
tion, say  one  half,  of  sulphate  of  soda,  or  sulphate  of  potass, 
would  so  modify  the  growth  as  to  make  the  stalks  moderately 
high,  and  at  the  same  time  preserve  the  superior  productiveness 
of  the  seed. 

"  The  barley,  which,  you  may  perhaps  recollect,  consisted  of  an 
average  of  ten  stems  from  one  seed,  and  thirty-four  grains  on 
each  stem,  was  the  produce  of  seeds  steeped  in  nitrate  of  ammo- 
nia. I  may  mention  that  the  best  illustration  of  the  comparative 
productiveness  of  prepared  and  unprepared  seed  was  exhibited  by 
the  contrast  of  wheat,  sown  5th  July,  which,  by  the  10th  of 
August,  the  last  day  of  the  show,  presented  the  following  results : 
the  prepared  seeds  had  tillered  into  nine,  ten,  and  eleven  stems ; 
the  unprepared  into  only  two,  three,  and  four  ;  and  both  were  from 
the  same  sample  of  seed,  and  sown  in  the  same  soil,  side  by 
side. 

"  The  various  salts  above  specified  were  made  by  me  from 
their  carbonates,  and  were  exactly  neutralized.  I  then  added 
from  eight  to  twelve  measures  of  water.  The  time  of  steeping 
varied  from  fifty  to  ninety-four  hours,  at  a  temperature  of  about 
60^  Fahrenheit. 

^'Barley,  I  found,  does  not  succeed  with  more  than  sixty 
hours'  steeping.  Rye-grass,  and  other  cultivated  grasses,  may 
do  very  well  with  from  sixteen  to  twenty  hours ;  but  clovers  will 
not  do  with  more  than  eight  or  ten  hours,  for,  being  bilobate, 
the  seeds  are  apt  to  burst  in  swelling. 

"  On  the  16th  ultimo,  I  caused  four  cart-loads  of  earth,  dug 
from  about  six  feet  under  the  surface,  to  be  laid  over  tilly  ground, 
and  spread  there,  and  in  this  virgin  soil,  totally  destitute  of  any 
organic  matter,  I  sowed  seeds  of  oats  and  barley  prepared  in 
seven  different  ways ;  but,  having  to  leave  on  the  31st,  I  could 
not  form  a  correct  estimate  of  the  comparative  progress  of  the 
seeds,  as  the  season  is  far  advanced,  and  vegetation  slow ; 
but,  if  in  health,  I  shall  revisit  the  place  in  October,  and 
shall  then  be  able  to  judge  better  of  the  result.  Along 
with  the  prepared  seeds,  I  sowed  also  some  unprepared,  both 
in   the   virgin   soil    and   in   pure    sand.     They  had  all  sprung 


116 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


well  when  I  left.     I  hope  soon  to  have  the  pleasure  of  writhig 
you  again  on  the  subject.     Meantime, 
"I  remain,  sir, 

"Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"Jas.  Campbell. 
♦*  Henry  Colman,  Esq.  London.''^ 

There  were  exhibited,  on  this  occasion,  specimens  of  oats, 
barley,  wheat,  and  rye-grass,  raised  from  seed  chemically  pre- 
pared.    Mr.  Campbell  adds  in  another  letter  as  follows :  — 

''  It  is  now  a  considerable  time  since  I  began  to  imagine  that, 
if  the  ultimate  principles,  of  which  the  proximate  constituents  of 
most  of  the  gramineous  seeds  are  composed,  could  by  any  means 
be  made  so  to  enter  the  substance  ot  the  seed,  and  at  the  same 
time  not  to  injure  its  vitality,  as  thoroughly  to  imbue  its  texture 
with  an  excess  of  these  principles,  the  end  (viz.,  of  superseding 
manures)  would  be  accomplished ;  and  it  is  by  doing  this  to  a 
certain  extent  that  I  am  certain  I  have  succeeded. 

"  The  specimens  of  oats  prepared  from  sulphate  of  ammonia 
are  magnificent,  both  as  to  height  and  strength,  being  six  feet 
high,  and  having  stems  like  small  canes,  and  consisted  of  an 
average  of  ten  stems  from  each  seed,  and  160  grains  on  each 
stem.  The  oats  from  muriate  of  ammonia  were  vigorous  and 
equally  prolific,  but  not  so  tall ;  and  those  from  the  nitrate  of 
soda  and  potass  were  nearly  equally  prolific,  but  still  '•less  tall. 
Big,  or  bear,  from  a  preparation  of  nitrate  of  ammonia,  like  that 
in  which  the  barley  was  steeped,  had  an  average  of  eleven 
and  a  half  stems  from  each  seed,  and  seventy-two  grains  on 
each  stem." 

Mr.  Campbell  states  "  that  the  ground  in  which  his  experiments 
had  been  made  had  received  no  manure  for  eleven  years,  and  in 
it  there  was  little  organic  matter  of  any  kind."  It  was  in  a  yard, 
or  old  garden,  next  to  his  house ;  but  unless  he  had  made  an 
analysis  of  the  soil  in  respect  to  the  amount  of  organic  matter 
contained  in  it,  I  should  conclude  that  his  judgment  here  was 
at  fault.  This  circumstance,  however,  is  of  little  consequence, 
since  the  experiments  were  comparative,  and  made  in  the  same 
soil,  and  under  the  same  circumstances.  The  plants  had  been 
principally  removed  from  the  ground  when  I  saw  it ;  and  I  had 
only  to  regret  that  the  experiments,  of  which,  from  the  apparent 


\ 


STEEPING    SEEDS.  1IT 

results,  he  could  hairdly,  beforehand,  have  realized  the  impor- 
tance, had  not  been  made  with  more  scrupulous  exactness. 
They  are,  however,  sufficiently  interesting  and  decisive  to  in- 
duce other  experiments,  in  which  the  results  may  be  more 
defined.  Mr.  Campbell's  disinterested  conduct  in  communicating 
them  to  the  public  does  him  the  highest  honor. 

Mr.  Campbell  has  since  sent  the  following  communication  to 
the  Agricultural  Society,  as  to  the  results  of  the  unfinished 
experiments  noticed  in  his  former  letter :  — 

'^  The  salts  were  neutralized  by  adding  the  carbonates  until 
eifervescence  completely  ceased ;  and  this  was  done  that  there 
might  be  no  excess  of  acid."  Mr.  Campbell  adds,  with  respect 
to  his  succeeding  experiments,  which  he  proposed  to  examine  on 
the  12th  of  October,  that  they  were  completely  successful,  show- 
ing a  decided  contrast  in  favor  of  the  prepared  seeds.  In  the 
soil  dug  up  from  6  or  8  feet  under  the  surface,  the  prepared  seed 
showed  plants  with  seven  and  eight  stems,  while  the  unprepared 
had  not  more  than  three. 

The  preparation  of  seeds  by  steeping  is  not  a  new  process. 
The  preparation  of  wheat,  by  soaking  in  brine  or  in  a  preparation 
of  arsenic,  has  been  recommended,  and,  so  far  as  my  own  expe- 
rience and  observation  go,  may  be  considered  as  a  sure  remedy 
against  smut.  The  steeping  of  Indian  corn  in  a  solution  of 
copperas  and  of  saltpetre  has  likewise  been  supposed  to  stimu- 
late and  promote  its  growth,  though  this  is  not  so  well  established 
as  might  be  desired.  But  a  scientific  attempt,  like  that  of  Mr. 
Campbell,  to  combine,  upon  chemical  principles,  the  ingredients 
or  salts  deemed  essential  to  the  growth  of  the  plant,  and  to  fur- 
nish them  by  soaking  the  seed  in  them,  is  a  rare,  though  not 
wholly  an  unknown  attempt.  Its  partial  success,  in  this  case, 
aff'ords  strong  encouragement  to  further  experiments.  The  steep 
may  be  supposed  to  operate  in  two  ways  —  either  as  a  stimulant, 
to  cause  the  seed  to  develop  its  powers  of  germination  more 
rapidly  and  fully  than  it  otherwise  would  do,  and  thus  gather 
more  of  the  nourishment  which  it  needs  from  the  soil  or  the 
atmosphere ;  or  as  supplying  that  proportion  of  saline  or  inor- 
ganic matter  which  the  plant  requires.  This  is  indeed  very 
small, ''  though  absolutely  essential  to  the  perfect  condition  of  the 
seed,  and  to  the  healthy  growth  of  the  plant  which  springs  from  it." 
This  is  said  to  be,  in  wheat  and  barley,  from  1 J  to  2  per  cent,  of 


118  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

the  whole  weight ;  and  in  oats  it  is  said  to  be  3J  per  cent.,  though 
much  of  this  is  in  the  husk  of  the  oat.  In  being  appHed  at  onc€» 
to  the  seed  in  a  form  to  enter  and  saturate  the  pores  of  the  seed, 
it  may  be  expected  to  be  taken  up  by  the  small  roots  of  the 
plant  as  soon  as  they  are  developed;  and  its  effects,  therefore^ 
must  be  immediate.  But  whatever  may  be  the  theory  in  the 
case,  should  Mr.  Campbell's  results  be  confirmed  by  further 
experiments,  the  fact  will  be  obviously  of  great  importance. 

From  some  pamphlets  translated  from  the  German  by  Pro- 
fessor Johnston,  extracts  from  which  have  been  published  in 
the  Edinburgh  Journal  of  Agriculture,  it  seems  that  great  dis- 
coveries have  been  made  in  Germany,  in  the  steeping  of  seeds ; 
and,  in  the  enthusiastic  expectations  of  one  of  the  discoverers,  the 
application  of  manure  may  be  dispensed  with,  and  the  rotation 
of  crops  on  the  same  soil,  in  order  to  recruit  the  soil,  will  no 
longer  be  necessary.  The  confidence  with  which  these  experi- 
ments are  given,  and  their  results  proclaimed,  would  seem  to 
entitle  them  to  attention. 

I  shall  here  take  leave  to  quote  from  a  paper  of  Professor 
Johnston  some  of  these  statements.  Franz  Heinrich  Bickes,  of 
Castel,  Mayence,  has  published  An  Account  of  the  Discovery  of  a 
Method  of  cultivating  the  Soil  without  Manure.  He  says,  "  It 
is  twelve  years  since  the  discovery  was  made.  The  experiments 
have  been  made  at  various  seasons  of  the  year,  and  the  same 
crop  has  been  repeated  on  the  same  soil  without  regard  to 
the  usual  rotation.  The  cost  is  trifling,  and  the  supply  of  the 
materials  to  be  substituted  for  manure  is  inexhaustible.  The 
testimonies  in  its  favor  are  said  to  be  from  practical  men ;  and 
they  assert  that,  from  examples  in  the  Imperial  Garden  in  Vienna, 
in  general  the  prepared  seeds  exhibited  a  very  much  stronger 
growth,  were  of  a  deeper  green,  had  thicker  stems,  finer  and 
fresher  leaves,  larger  grain,  and  the  grain  was  thinner  skinned, 
and  therefore  contained  more  meal. 

''  The  hemp  was  of  a  much  larger  size,  and  had  many  side- 
shoots  bearing  seed. 

''  The  Indian  corn  had  more  ears. 

'^  The  buckwheat  was  upwards  of  three  feet  high,  and  full  of 
seed. 

"  Wheat,  rye,  barley,  and  oats,  are  thicker,  and  have  more 
numerous  stems,  larger  ears,  and  more  grains  in  each. 


STEEPING    SEEDS.  119 

"  The  lucern  was  beyond  all  comparison  stronger,  had  more 
shoots,  and  its  roots  were  as  thick  again. 

"  The  disks  of  the  sunflower  were  doubled  in  diameter ;  the 
cabbage  had  larger  heads,  the  cucumber  larger  fruit,  while  the 
unprepared  seed  yielded  nothing." 

Other  testimonials  are  added  from  persons  of  respectable  stand- 
ing and  condition.  Other  plants,  besides  those  above  mentioned, 
are  said  to  have  been  equally  benefited.  One  fourth  only  of 
the  usual  quantity  of  seed,  of  wheat  and  rye,  was  sown  on  a 
poor,  unproductive  clay  ;  and  yet  the  product  was  greater  than  on 
the  newest  land  of  good  quality,  though  aided  by  manure. 

^'  Ten  or  twelve  potato  plants  gave,  on  an  average,  thirty  large 
potatoes  each,  and  had  stems  seven  feet  in  height. 

"  Fifteen  stalks  of  Indian  corn  had,  on  an  average,  five  ears 
each,  some  having  as  many  as  eight  or  nine  ears  to  a  single 
plant. 

"  The  buckwheat  was  four  and  a  half  to  five  feet  high ;  the 
flax  had  four  to  five  stems  from  each  seed.  The  white  clover 
was  as  large  in  the  leaves  and  stems  as  the  red  clover  usually  is ; 
the  red  clover  and  lucern  three  feet  high." 

The  experiments  of  Mr.  Campbell  induced  many  farmers  to 
try  the  efiects  of  steeps  upon  their  seeds.  One  of  the  most  ex- 
perienced and  intelligent  cultivators  in  Scotland  informed  me 
that  his  success  had  been  partial.  He  had  made  numerous  ex- 
periments, and  in  some  instances  with  remarkable,  in  others  with 
no  efiect.  I  am  not  yet  in  possession  of  the  details,  which  I 
presently  hope  to  obtain  from  him,  and  on  which  I  shall  greatly 
rely.  As  my  Report  is  going  through  the  press,  I  have  been 
favored  with  a  reply  to  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Campbell  on  this 
subject,  which  I  annex. 

"  The  accounts  which  I  have  received  from  various  quarters 
are  conflicting,  some  exceedingly  good,  and  others  equally  bad  ; 
but  this  I  have  learned,  that  the  greatest  success  has  attended 
the  experiments  on  a  great  variety  of  soils. 

"  I  believe  — and  this  is  also  the  opinion  of  many  others  —  that, 
where  failures  have  taken  place,  they  are  due  either  to  misman- 
agement or  to  the  drought  of  the  season.  The  results  of  my 
own  experiments  are  highly  favorable  ;  and  I  have  a  variety  of 
specimens  for  the  exhibition  at  GlasgoAv." 

He  adds,  "My  nephew  writes  me  as  under." 


120  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

"  I  have  just  seen  Sir  John  Ogilvie's  overseer,  and  he  states 
that  the  steeped  oats  sold  by  roup,  yesterday,  at  Id.  per  pole 
more  than  those  which  were  not  steeped  on  the  next  rig." 

"  N.  B.  The  prepared  seeds  were  sown  much  thinner  than  the 
unprepared,  at  least  one  quarter. 

"Cranch  &>  Co.,  (Newcastle-upon-Tyne,)  30th  July,  write, 
'We  have  received  some  good  accounts  of  the  steeps.' 

"P.  Bruce,  (Hull,)  30th  July,  writes,  'I  am  glad  to  inform 
you  that  one  or  two  parties  tell  me  that  they  will  buy  the  steep 
again,  supposing  that  any  falling  off  is  attributable  to  the 
drought.'     He  has  himself  seen  some  that  looks  very  well. 

''  I  may  add  that  any  that  I  have  hitherto  seen  looks  exceed- 
ingly well,  better  than  the  unprepared,  although  sown  thinner." 

I  cannot  say  that  I  am  sanguine  as  to  those  extraordinary 
results  to  which,  from  the  quotations  which  I  have  made,  some 
persons  look  forward,  when  there  will  be  no  longer  a  necessity 
for  a  rotation  of  crops,  and  even  the  application  of  manure  to 
the  soil  may  be  dispensed  with.  But  I  cannot  help  thinking 
that  much  remains  to  be  achieved,  and  that  much  may  be  hoped 
for.  We  are  not  to  be  surprised  that  failures  occur  ;  but  one  well- 
authenticated  experiment,  conducted  in  an  exact  manner,  and  in 
which  the  extraordinary  results  may  be  directly  traced  to  the 
application,  is  sufficient  to  outweigh  a  hundred  failures.  The 
exhibition  at  Dundee,  supposing  Mr.  Campbell's  statements  to 
be  true,  —  and  I  know  no  reason  to  doubt,  but,  from  his  manly 
conduct,  the  best  reason  to  believe  them,  —  satisfied  me  that  some- 
thing important  had  been  efiected.  I  rely  little  upon  mere 
opinion  and  conjecture,  even  of  parties  above  suspicion  of  dis- 
honesty. The  mortification  of  failure,  the  desire  of  success, 
the  ambition  of  notoriety,  and  especially  any  degree  of  personal 
or  private  interest,  —  all  may  serve  to  color  the  vision,  to  bias  the 
judgment,  and  present  grounds  of  hesitation,  if  not  of  distrust. 
With  a  full  share  of  confidence  in  the  virtue  of  men,  I  have 
been  too  often  disappointed  not  to  require  the  most  ample  evi- 
dence in  all  cases  of  moment.  I  was  not  a  little  amused  in  visit- 
ing, with  several  gentlemen,  the  farm  of  an  excellent  cultivator 
the  last  summer,  that,  when  he  showed  us  in  his  field  of  swedes, 
with  an  air  of  the  most  confident  triumph,  the  surprisingly 
beneficial  effects  of  a  certain  application  upon  some  marked 
rows,  every  one  of  the  party  except  himself  was  satisfied  that 


STEEPING     SEEDS.  1^1 

the  rows  in  question  had  no  other  distinction  than  that  of  ab- 
solute inferiority  to  all  the  rest.  It  would  have  been '  as  useless 
as  it  would  have  been  uncivil  to  avow  our  convictions  to  him, 
for  men  are  seldom  convinced  against  their  will,  and  assaults 
upon  an  unduly-excited  organ  of  self-esteem,  if  they  do  not 
arouse  combativeness,  inflict  only  needless  pain.  In  agricul- 
ture, being  eminently  a  practical  art,  and  as  yet,  I  believe,  clahn- 
ing  not  a  single  theoretical  principle  as  established,  excepting 
as  first  deduced  from  long-continued  practice,  experiments  are 
of  the  highest  moment.  Tl:^e  careless  and  slovenly  manner  in 
which  they  are  commonly  conducted,  the  haste  with  which  men 
jump  to  their  conclusions,  the  variety  of  circmnstances  which 
belong  to  every  case  of  importance,  and  the  imperfect  manner 
in  which  these  circumstances  are  observed  and  detailed,  are  the 
just  opprobrium  of  the  agricultural  profession.  A  most  intelli- 
gent and  agreeable  friend,  in  speaking  of  the  best  modes  of 
fattening  poultry,  and  in  expressing  her  distrust  of  some  which 
were  recommended,  said  that  her  venerable  grandmother  always 
fed  and  fattened  her  poultry  in  a  very  different  way.  But  upon 
being  asked  whether  her  grandmother's  fowls  were  the  best 
layers,  brought  up  the  most  chickens,  and  produced  the  best 
poultry  for  the  table  of  any  to  be  found,  she  was  compelled  to 
answer  that  on  this  point  she  had  no  information.  A  learned 
naturalist,  who,  in  many  respects,  was  justly  celebrated  for  his 
acquirements,  was  once  asked  why  black-wooled  sheep  con- 
sumed more  food  than  white,  and  proceeded  gravely  to  give  half 
a  dozen  philosophical  reasons  for  it,  without  having  once  inquired 
whether  the  fact  were  so. 

It  is  strongly  hoped,  that,  under  an  enlightened  system  of  agri- 
cultural education,  for  which  the  auspices  now  are  most  encour- 
aging, and  by  the  establishment  of  experimental  farms,  many 
important  suggestions,  in  relation  to  agricultural  practice,  as  yet 
only  conjectural,  may  be  determined,  and  much  actual  progress 
made  in  agricultural  science,  by  the  only  infallible  teacher  — 
exact  and  enlightened  experiment. 
11 


122  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


XVI. —  SPADE    HUSBANDRY. 


The  spade  husbandry,  to  which  I  have  already  referred,  has 
been  undertaken  by  several  gentlemen,  in  England,  on  a  some- 
what extended  scale,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  employment  to  a 
numerous  population  in  the  vicinity  of  some  large  towns,  suffer- 
ing for  want  of  the  means,  or  the  opportunity,  of  earning  a 
subsistence.  In  one  case,  the  extent  cultivated  by  the  spade  has 
been  fifty  acres ;  in  two  other  cases,  over  two  hundred  acres 
each ;  and  the  crops  produced  have  been  the  same  as  in  other 
field  cultivation  with  the  plough  ;  such  as  turnips,  cabbages,  beets, 
potatoes,  barley,  clover,  and  artificial  grasses,  oats,  beans,  peas, 
tares,  and  wheat.  The  crops  have  been  cultivated  at  not  an 
unreasonable  expense,  and  the  yield  has  been  fully  remunerating. 
Oats  have  given  at  the  rate  of  forty  and  fifty  bushels  per  acre, 
and,  indeed,  very  much  more  ;  and  wheat  thirty,  thirty-two,  and, 
forty  bushels.  The  instrument  found  by  experience  best  for 
use  has  been  a  three-pronged  fork,  fourteen  inches  in  depth, 
and  seven  and  a]Eaif  inches  in  width.  By  this  instrument  the 
ground  has  been  stirred  to  the  full  depth  of  the  prongs  of  the 
fork,  but  only  about  nine  or  ten  inches  of  the  soil  have  been 
taken  out  and  inverted.* 

The  principle  upon  which  this  practice  is  recommended  is  the 
same  with  that  of  subsoil  ploughing.  The  object  desired  is  to 
loosen  the  substratum  or  under  soil,  so  that,  in  the  first  place,  all 
superfluous  water  may  be  drained  off;  in  the  second  place,  that 
the  soil  may  be  brought  into  a  finer  tilth,  and  rendered  more 
permeable  to  the  roots  of  the  plants,  in  order  that  they  may  find 
the  easier  access  to  the  nourishment  which  they  draw  from  the 
soil ;  and  in  the  next  place,  that  it  may  become  enlivened,  if  the 


*  Mr.  Cruttenden  has  contrived  a  fork  with  a  sharp  blade  of  about 
an  inch  in  width,  which  seemed  an  improvement  on  the  common  form, 
and  which  he  deemed  very  useful.  The  annexed  en^aving-  exhibits 
the  shape  of  the  implement.  The  blade,  like  a  spade,  cuts  off  the  roots 
with  which  it  comes  in  contact,  and  the  earth,  when  lifted,  becomes 
broken  by  falling  through  the  open  spaces  betM'een  the  prongs,  com- 
bining the  advantages  both  of  a  spade  and  a  fork. 


SPADE     HUSBANDRY.  123 

expression  be  allowable,  and  enriched  by  the  admission  of  the 
air,  by  which  all  portions  of  it  are  thus  visited,  and  gain  from 
the  atmosphere  the  elements  of  vegetation  which  it  fm-nishes. 
Of  the  value  of  this  circumstance  no  intelligent  agriculturist  can 
entertain  a  doubt.     There  is  another  advantage  attending  the 
spading  of  land.     The  tendency  of  drawing  a  plough  through 
the  land  is  to  render  the  ground  more  hard  at  the  bottom  of  the 
furrow,  where  the  shoe  or  bottom  of  the  plough  presses  upon  it, 
and  to  make  it  consequently  more  impervious  to  the  roots  of  the 
plant  than  it  would  otherwise  be ;  this  is  of  course  avoided  in 
the  spading  of  land.     The  subsoiling  of  land  is  deemed  of  com-\ 
paratively  little  use,  unless  connected  with  a  system  of  thorough  j 
drainage ;  and  this  drainage  would  seem  to  be  of  equal  import 
tance  upon  land  cultivated  with  a  spade. 

In  Flanders,  it  is  said  that  the  cultivation  by  the  spade  pre- 
vails to  a  great  extent,  and  is  eminently  successful.     In    the 
United  States,  where  land  is  abundant  and  labor  comparatively 
scarce,    it   would   be   idle   to   recommend   to  any  great  extent 
cultivation  by  the  spade.     Yet  it  would  be  curious  to  see  what 
might  be  done  in  this  way  on  a  small  scale.     One  of  the  most  \ 
productive   farms   for   its   extent  in  New  England,  within  my    I 
knowledge,  — if  farm  it  may  be  called,  —  consists  of  seven  acres,    j 
from  which  the  farmer  or  cultivator  sells  annually  to  the  amount  i 
of  twenty-five  hundred  dollars,  or  five  hundred  pounds  sterling.  / 
The  industrious  and  frugal  owner  sustains  his  family  in  comfort 
and  independence  from  this  source  only,  and  is  actually  growing 
rich.     He  resides  within  a  few  miles  of  a  good  market,  and  by  \ 
his  skill  and  industry  he  sometimes  obtains  five  different  crops  in  I 
a  season  on  the  same  land.     The  great  question  of  the  size  of 
farms  will  come  into  discussion  as  I  proceed ;  but  I  cannot  now 
enter  upon  it.     Such  examples  of  what  may  be   called  cottage 
economy,  are   not  without  instruction  to  those  who  hold  and 
manage  large  possessions.     In  France,  the  farms  are  greatly  sub- 
divided, and  the  holdings  are  very  small.     It  is  estimated  by  a 
statistical    writer,    whose    authority   is   respected,    that,  among 
1,243,200  of  small  proprietors  in  France,  their  possessions  do 
not  average  over  five  acres  apiece.     Political  economists  strongly 
object  to  such  small  divisions  of  land,  as  unfavorable  to   the 
production  of  wealth,  and  not  likely  to  lead  to  those  improved 


12^  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

modes  of  agriculture,  which  would  be  pursued  under  a  system 
of  large  proprietorship. 

There  is  undoubtedly  a  good  deal  of  weight  in  the  latter 
reason ;  for  implements  and  fixtiu-es  connected  with  an  improved 
system  of  husbandry  are  themselves  expensive,  and  few  great 
and  substantial  improvements  can  be  made  without  a  consider- 
able outlay  of  capital.  Such  improvements  likewise  demand 
systematic  arrangements,  and  often  extensive  combinations,  in 
order  to  their  being  effected.  I  have  known  numerous  instances 
where  lands  required  draining,  and  indeed  were  comparatively 
worthless  without  it ;  but  this  draining  could  not  be  effected, 
from  the  obstinacy  of  a  neighbor,  through  whose  land  only  could 
the  water  be  made  to  descend.  In  other  cases,  where  fields 
were  held  in  common,  the  same  evil  has  been  suffered  from  a 
refusal  on  the  part  of  the  owners  of  the  several  pieces  to  enclose 
the  land,  and  to  unite  in  accomplishing  the  common  object.  It 
cannot  be  doubted,  likewise,  that  the  minds  of  men  are 
greatly  affected  by  the  nature  of  their  employments ;  and 
although  there  are  many  cases  in  which  active  and  strong  minds 
will  rise  above  every  barrier,  and,  in  spite  of  the  circumstances 
by  which  they  are  surrounded,  will  develop  their  native  great- 
ness, yet  the  constant  confinement  of  the  mind  to  a  narrow  and 
very  limited  sphere  of  action,  will  not  be  without  its  effe( 
upon  all  its  operations.  The  successful  management  of  a  large 
farm,  like  the  management  of  any  other  large  concern,  requires  a 
great  deal  of  inquiry,  calculation,  reflection,  and  knowledge ; 
and  all  this,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  begets  more  inquiry,^ 
calculation,  reflection,  and  knowledge.  It  is  to  minds  only  oi 
this  superior  cast  that  we  can  look  with  confidence  for  enterprise^ 
and  distinguished  improvements. 

The  effect  of  such  small  subdivisions  of  land  as  those  of  which 
I  am  writing,  and  those  which  are  said  to  take  place  in  France, 
upon  the  production  of  national  wealth,  is  another  question,  and 
must  be  put  in  an  exact  form  before  it  can  be  answered.  If  we 
could  suppose  all  these  small  farms  to  be  cultivated  in  the  most 
improved  and  perfect  manner,  the  gross  produce  would  be  greater 
than  under  any  other  system.  This,  however,  is  not  to  be  ex- 
pected, and,  for  reasons  already  assigned,  would  hardly  take 
pleice.  In  a  pecuniary  result,  therefore,  the  subdivision  of  land 
into  small  farms  is  likely  to  fall  much  short  of  the  product  of  the 


SPADE    HUSBANDRY.  125 

land  cultivated  in  large  occupations.  But  in  reference  to  a  general 
competence,  and  a  more  equal  and  just  distribution  of  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  land,  and  in  its  moral  effects  upon  the  character  of 
the  laboring  population,  the  system  of  small  farms  should  doubtless 
be  preferred.*  If  pecuniary  gain  alone  must  be  the  paramount 
object  of  consideration,  and  the  prosperity  of  a  country  is  to  be 
measured  only  by  dollars  and  cents,  or  pounds,  shillings,  and 
pence,  the  cultivation  of  the  land  in  large  parcels  would  doubt- 
less best  effect  the  purpose  ;  but  if  the  true  prosperity  of  a 
country  is  rather  to  be  determined  by  the  general  comfort,  im- 
provement, and  personal  independence,  of  its  population,  we  can^ 
hardly  doubt  that  arrangements  which  most  nearly  connect  an 
individual's  interest  with  his  own  exertions  and  character,  and,  if 
the  expression  be  allowed,  make  him  th<3  creator  of  his  own 
fortune,  are  those  which  are  most  likely  to  effect  these  ends.^ 
The  diffbrence  in  the  condition  of  an  individual  laboring  always 
at  the  will  of  another,  and  having  no  other  share  in,  or  control 
over,  the  products  of  his  labor,  than  that  which  he  obtains  from 
the  willing  consent,  or  wrings  from  the  reluctant  necessities,  of 
his_employer,  and  that  of  an  independent  freeholder  in  the  soil,  \ 
who  has  a  personal  stake  in  the  products  of  his  labor,  who  ap- 
plies this  labor  as  he  chooses,  and  has  the  absolute  control  of  its 
results,  can  be  best  understood  by  those  only  who  have  seen 
mankind  in  these  two  different  situations. 

There  are  two  cases  in  which  the  spade  husbandry  might 
have  an  important  application  in  the  United  States.  The  Eng- 
lish know  nothing  of,  and  can  scarcely,  as  far  as  my  own  obser- 
vation goes,  be  made  fully  to  understand,  a  condition  of  things, 

*  "  No  one,"  says  the  Baron  de  Stael,  "  can  compare  the  present  state  of  France 
with  that  which  prevailed  in  1789,  without  being  struck  with  the  great  increase 
of  the  national  riches.  Throughout  all  France,  the  greater  number  of  laborers 
and  farmers  are  at  the  same  time  proprietors.  Nothing  is  more  common  tlian  to 
see  a  day-laborer  proprietor  of  a  cottage,  which  serves  as  an  asylum  to  his  family ; 
a  garden,  which  feeds  his  children ;  a  little  field,  which  he  cultivates  at  his  leisure 
liours,  and  which  enables  him  to  sustain,  with  more  chance  of  success,  the  terrible 
struggle  between  laborious  poverty  and  engrossing  opulence."  f 

"'  In  1838,  the  number  of  separate  properties  taxed  for  the  impot  fonder,  in 
France,  amounted  to  the  enormous  number  of  10,896,000.  The  population  of 
landed  proprietors,  with  their  families,  is  estimated  at  20,000,000,  or  nearly  two 
thirds  of  the  total  population.  The  average  size  of  each  property  is  about  four- 
teen acres."  I 

t  Quoted  in  Laing's  Address.  J:  Porter's  Progress  of  the  Nation. 

11* 


126  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

in  which  every  mail  of  common  intelligence,  industry,  frugality. 

and  sobriety,  the  great  and  certain  elements  of  success  in  almost 

every  department  of  life,  may  become  a  freeholder,  that  is,  the 

possessor  in  fee-simple  of  more  or  less  land,  according  to  his 

desires  or  wants.     Here,  in  England,  land  is  so  dear  as  to  be 

[   beyond  almost  the  aspirations  of  men  with  small  means ;  still  less 

/     is  it  within  the  reach  of  those,  whose  whole  wealth  consists  in 

/      the  labor  of  their  own  hands ;  or  it  is  held  in  large  masses  by 

/       men  whose  active  capital  corresponds  with  the  extent  of  their 

r        possessions,  and  Avho,  in  such  cases,  would  almost  as  soon  sell 

I         their  teeth  as  their  land ;  or  it  is  locked  up  by  the  laws  of  pri- 

1        mogeniture  and  entail,  so  that  even  those  who  hold  it  have  not 

\       edways  the  power  to  alienate  it. 

V         It  has  been  said  more  than  once  to  me,  since  the  publication\ 
of  my  First  Report,  that  it  is  no  evil  that  a  man,  and  any  man,  I 
cannot  own  a  house  and-  land,  and  that  the  condition  of  a  free-  / 
^  holder  is  not  preferable  to  that  of  a  tenant.     Certainly  this  must^ 
/    depend,  to  a  great  degree,  upon  the  conditions  under  which  the 
I     tenancy   is   held.     But,    without   pronouncing  it   an   evil,   and 
V    leaving  every  one  to  enjoy  his  own  opinion  of  the  case  as  it  is, 
I  deem  it  a  great  good  where  such  a  blessing  as  a  home  of 
one's  own,  and  a  small  farm  of  one's  own,  subject  to  no  other 
conditions  than  such  as  the  common  laws  of  the  land  extend 
over  it  for  protection,  is  within  the  reach  and  the  early  attain- 
ment even  of  the  humblest  member  of  the  community.     Now, 
we  have  in  New  England,  and  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  a 
great  many  instances,  in  which  men  and  their  families,  pursuing 
some  handicraft  or  in-door   trade,  and   professional  men,  with 
small  incomes,  are  the  owners  of  houses  in  the  country,  with  a 
few  acres  of  land  attached,  on  which  they  are  occupied  in  their 
hours  of  recreation,  or  at  seasons  when  the  calls  of  their  trade 
or  profession  do  not  press  too  strongly  upon  them.     While  these 
small  farms  furnish  a  large  proportion  of  the  supplies  which  they 
and  their  families  require  from  the  garden  or  the  field,  they  arc 
alike  conducive  to  their  physical,  and,  I  add  with  equal  confi- 
dence, to  their  moral  health.     To  such  persons  the  spade  cul- 
tivation, and  the  minute  and  exact  husbandry  to  which  it  leads, 
would  be  of  great  importance.    Among  the  Romans,  seven  acre^ 
were  regarded  as  an  ample  allowance  for  a  family  ;  and  it  would  \ 
be  extremely  desirable  to  know  what  are,  in  fact,  the  productive  \ 


SPADE    HUSBANDRY.  127 

powers  of  mHitie.  As  yet,  I  believe,  they  are  very  far  from 
l)eing  ascertained ;  but,  in  the  course  of  ray  agricultural  obser- 
vations, many  cases  have  come  under  my  notice,  in  which  the 
products  from  a  very  few  acres,  cultivated  with  all  the  care  and 
liberality  which  such  cases  admit  of,  have  far  surpassed  those  of 
farms  many  times  as  large. 

In  one  instance,  which  happens  to  be  before  me,  the  following 
was  the  result:  — 

Three  men  were  employed  one  week  in  digging  an  acre 

with  a  spade,  at  9  s.  per  week, 27  s. 

The  same  amount  of  land,  in  ploughing  three  times,  cost 
7  s.  per  acre  each  ploughing,    .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     21 

Against  the  spade,     ...       6  s. 

At  harvest,  however,  the  spaded  land  produced  fifteen  bushels 
of  wheat  more  than  that  under  the  plough.  Here,  then,  was  a 
clear  profit,  at  the  ciurent  price  of  wheat  at  the  time,  of  £  4  19  s. 
per  acre. 

Another  example  is  given  of  a  farmer  in  Essex,  on  a  farm  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty  acres. 

''  I  have  annually  dug,"  he  says,  "  from  three  to  five  acres,  for 
the  last  five  years.  The  soil  I  have  operated  upon  is  light,  with 
a  substratum  of  gravel,  sand,  and  tender  loam.  The  expense 
of  the  forking  is  2  J  d.  per  rod  =  33  s.  4  d.  per  acre ;  but  I 
always  dig  under  the  furrow  left  by  the  plough,  which  adds  one 
ploughing  to  the  expense,  viz.,  8  s.  By  adopting  this  course,  I 
do  not  bring  up  the  inert  subsoil  until  the  second  time  of  dig- 
ging. The  influence  of  forking  on  the  crops  seems  to  be,  that 
all  root  crops  are  much  increased  in  quantity ;  the  cereal  crops, 
which  follow,  are  less  injured  by  drought ;  and  the  land  becomes 
much  more  free  from  annual  weeds,  as  well  as  from  those  which 
are  of  a  more  permanent  nature.  I  had  recently  a  person  with 
me  who  has  made  a  series  of  very  carefully-conducted  experi- 
ments, in  which  digging  has  been  contrasted  with  ploughing. 
He  thinks  the  produce  of  the  forked  land  was  nearly  double 
that  of  the  ploughed." 

This  farmer  adds,  '^  First,  a  man  can  dig  a  greater  quantity 
of  land,  in  a  given  time,  with  a  fork  than  he  can  with  a  spade. 
My  experience  shows  one  sixth  ;  and  it  strikes  me  it  must  be  so, 
because  the  pointed  ends  of  a  three-pronged  fork  can  be  more 


128  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

easily  pushed  into  a  hard  subsoil  than  the  continuous  end  of  a 
spade  ;  secondly,  it  does  not  bring  up  so  much  of  the  subsoil  as 
the  spade,  but  mixes  the  earth  more,  a  great  portion  slipping 
through  between  the  prongs;  thirdly,  the  bottom  is  left  more 
uneven  and  broken  by  the  fork,  which  I  consider  a  great  advan- 
tage. One  great  objection  to  the  plough  is,  the  smooth,  glazed 
surface  which  it  leaves  below,  and  which  presents  a  resistance 
to  the  delicate  fibres  of  the  plant.  If  it  is  correct  that,  in  most 
instances,  the  present  surface  soil  is  nothing  more  than  a  portion 
of  the  subsoil  improved  by  cultivation,  it  must  be  right  to 
increase  the  quantity  of  corn-growing  earth  by  subjecting  more 
subsoil  to  the  same  operation." 

"  An  instance  is  given  of  the  spade  husbandry  of  a  farmer  in 
Worcestershire,  who  has  cultivated  four  acres  of  very  stiff  clay 
land,  two  acres  of  it  for  seventeen  years,  and  two  acres  for 
twenty-seven  years.  He  grows,  annually,  wheat  and  potatoes, 
with  jjbput  one  quar^er_of  an  acre  of  beans,  the  crop  being 
shifted  alternately  from  one  division  to  the  other.  His  mode  of 
cultivation  is  as  follows :  As  soon  as  the  wheat  is  off,  he  ploughs 
his  stubble-ground,  raking  up  the  stubble  to  litter  his  pigs ;  he 
then  digs  it  over  with  a  fork,  and  plants  on  it  potatoes  in  the 
following  spring ;  this  crop  being  kept  clean,  the  land  needs  no 
further  preparation  for  wheat.  He  does  most  of  the  labor  him- 
self; but  he  estimates  it  to  amount  to  about  £4  6s.  per  acre: 
his  average  produce  has  been  rather  more  than  forty  bushels  of 
wheat  and  twelve  tons  of  potatoes  per  acre.  The  system  he 
follows,  as  regards  the  cropping  of  the  land,  therefore,  is  evi- 
dently of  the  most  trying  description  ;  and  this  is  not  all,  for  he 
sells  all  his  produce,  even  his  straw,  excepting  a  few  potatoes 
and  beans,  which  he  consumes  in  annually  feeding  about  thirty 
or  forty  score  of  bacon  for  his  own  consumption.  He  litters  his 
pigs  with  the  potato  haulm  and  stubble ;  and  the  manure  from 
this  source,  and  from  his  privy,  with  some  clay  out  of  his 
ditches,  which  he  gets  occasionally  and  burns,  is  all  that  he  has 
to  fertilize  the  land  with. 

"Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  small  quantity  of  beans 
raised  and  bacon  fed,  valuing  the  wheat  at  7  s.  per  bushel,  and 
the  rest  of  his  produce  at  the  price  he  obtains  for  it,  we  shall 
have  something  like  the  following  account  of  his  farming  :  — 


SPADE    HUSBANDRY.  129 

£.  s.  d. 
24  tons  of  potatoes,  at  50  s.  per  ton,    ......     60     0  0 

80  bushels  of  wheat,  at  7s.  per  bushel, 28     0  0 

2  tons  of  straw,  at  50  s.  per  ton, 5     0  0 

93     0  0 

Deduct  from  this,  manual  wages,  at  £4  6  s. 

IJd.  per  acre,       17     4  6 

Seed  potatoes   for  two   acres,  25  bags   of 

180  lbs.,  at  4s., 5     0  0 

4  bushels  of  seed  wheat,  at  7  s.  6  d.,      .     .       1  10  0 

23  14  6 

Leaves  him,  subject  to  rent  and  parochial  payments,     £69     5  6 

"  This  farmer  than  gives  strong  and  mianswerable  evidence  in  \ 
favor  of  the  fork  or  spade  husbandry.     He  adds  that  he  has  pur-  \ 
sued  this  system   of  cultivation  during  the  period  of  the  last    \ 
twenty-four  years,  with  the  exception  of  the  first  three  years,     \ 
when  his  neighbors  'ploughed  his  land  for  him  for  nothing  ;  that      \ 
they  are  willing  to  do  the  same  now,  at  any  time,  but  he  prefers      I 
going  to  the  expense  of  digging  it,  to  having  it  ploughed  for     j 
nothing y  *  / 

This  is  certainly  an  instructive  example,  and  shows  what  may 
be  done  by  very  limited  and  small  means.     We  have,  in  the 
United  States,  beyond  a  question,  a  large  immber  of  farmers, 
who,  if  they  would  cultivate,  to  the  utmost  of  its  capacity,  a 
small  extent  of  land,  in  the  most  thorough  manner,  would  find 
themselves  comparatively  independent ;   whereas,  now,  without\ 
capital,  spending  their  deficient  labor  over  a  large  surface,  and    l 
doing  nothing  thoroughly,  they  lead  a  life  of  vexation,  toil,  and    / 
disappointment,  without  any  compensating  result. 

To  these  examples  I  add  the  subjoined  experience  of  a  Scotch 
farmer,  who  received  a  premium  from  the  Agricultural  Society  for 
his  skill  and  success. 

"In  1831,  I  determined  to  ascertain  the  difierence  of  the 
expense  and  produce,  between  trenching  land  with  the  spade, 
and   summer-fallowing  with  the  plough  in  the  usual  way.     I 

*  These  two  instances  are  quoted  by  that  able  and  industrious  agricultural 
writer,  Cuthbert  W.  Johnson,  F.  R.  S.,  in  Journal  of  Agriculture  for  January, 
1844. 


130  EURQPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

therefore  trenched  thirteen  acres  of  my  summer-fallow  break,  in 
the  months  of  June  and  July.  I  found  the  soil  about  fourteen 
inches  deep ;  and  I  turned  it  completely  over ;  thereby  putting 
up  a  clean,  fresh  soil  in  the  room  of  the  foul  and  exhausted  mould, 
which  I  was  careful  to  put  at  the  bottom  of  the  trench.  This 
operation,  I  found,  cost  about  £4  10  s.  per  Scotch  acre,  paying 
my  laborers  with  Is.  6 d.  per  day.  The  rest  of  the  field,  con- 
sisting of  nine  acres,  I  wrought  with  the  plough  in  the  usual  way, 
giving  it  six  furrows,  with  the  suitable  harrowing :  I  manured 
the  field  in  August :  the  trench  got  eight  cart-loads  per  acre,  the 
|)loughed  land  sixteen:  the  field  was  sown  in  the  middle 
of  September :  the  whole  turned  out  a  bulky  crop  as  to  straw, 
particularly  the  trenched  portion,  which  was  very  much  lodged. 
On  threshing  them  out,  I  found  them  to  stand  as  under :  — 

£.  s.  d. 
To  two  years'  rent,  at  £2  10  s.  per  annum,    ....500 

''    expense  of  trenching, 4  10  0 

''    seed,  3  bushels,  at  6  s.  9d., 1     0  3 

"    8  cart-loads  of  manure,  at  4  s., 1   12  0 

"   expenses  of  cutting,  threshing,  and  marketing,  .     .     1   10  0 
Profit, 3  18  9 

By  trenched  wheat  per  acre,  52  bushels,  at  6  s.  9d.  .     £17  11  0 

£.  s.  d. 

To  two  years'  rent,  at  £2  10  s.  per  acre, 5     0  0 

"    6  furrows  and  harrowing,  at  10  s.,  ......300 

"   seed,  3  bushels,  at  6  s.  9  d., 103 

"    16  cart-loads' manure,  at  4  s., 3     4  0 

"   expenses  of  cutting,  threshing,  and  marketing,  .     .     1  10  0 
Profit, 093 

By  ploughed  wheat  per  acre,  42  bushels,  at  6  s.  9d.  .     £14     3  6 

'^  I  now  saw  that,  though  it  might  be  profitable  to  trench  over 
my  fallow-break  during  the  summer  months,  it  was  by  no  means 
making  the  most  of  the  system,  as  the  operation  was  not  only 
more  expensive,  owing  to  the  land  being  hard  and  dry  during 
the  summer,  but  that  it  was  a  useless  waste  of  time  to  take  a 
whole  year  to  perform  an  operation  that  could  as  well  be  done  m 
d  few  weeks,  provided  laborers  could  be  had ;  and  as,  in  all  agri- 


SPADE    HUSBANDRY.  131 

cultural  operations,  losing  time  is  losing  money,  —  as  the  rent 
must  be  paid  whether  the  land  is  carrying  a  crop  or  not ;  so  that 
in  taking  one  year  to  fallow  the  land,  and  another  to  grow  the 
crop,  two  years'  rent  must  be  charged  against  the  crop,  or  at  least 
there  must  be  a  rent  charged  against  the  rotation  of  crops  for  the 
year  the  land  was  fallowed.  As  I  felt  satisfied  that,  by  trenching 
with  the  spade,  the  land  would  derive  all  the  advantage  of  a 
summer  fallowing,  and  avoid  all  the  disadvantages  attending  it, 
I  determined  on  trenching  thirty-four  acres  of  my  fallow-break 
immediately  on  the  crop  being  removed  from  the  ground,  and 
had  it  sown  with  wheat  by  the  middle  of  November,  1832.  I 
may  here  remark  that  I  did  not  apply  any  manure,  as  I  thought 
the  former  crop  was  injiu-ed  by  being  too  bulky.  As  it  is  now 
threshed  out  and  disposed  of,  the  crop  per  acre  stands  as 
follows :  — 

£.  s.  d. 

To  rent  of  land,  per  acre,   . 2  10  0 

"   expense  of  trenching, 4=00 

''    seed, 110 

"   cutting,  threshing,  and  marketing, 1  10  0 

Profit, ....670 

By  average  of  the  34  acres,  44  bushels  per  acre,  at  )  ^  ^  ^     q  n 
7  s.  per  bushel, > 

''  The  advantages  of  trenching  over  summer-fallow  are,  in  my 
opinion,  very  decided ;  as  it  is  not  only  cheaper,  but,  as  far  as  I 
can  yet  judge,  much  more  effectual.  I  am  so  satisfied  of  this,  not 
only  from  the  experiments  above  noticed,  but  from  the  apparent 
condition  of  the  land  after  it  has  carried  the  crop,  that  I  have, 
this  autumn,  cultivated  about  a  hundred  acres  with  the  spade, 
and  the  crops  at  present  are  very  promising." 

There  are  various  cases  in  which  the  spade  husbandry  might 
be  most  usefully  introduced.  In  New  England,  especially  in 
Massachusetts,  for  the  support  of  the  poor,  several  towns  have 
purchased  farms,  to  be  connected  with  their  alms-houses  and 
pauper  establishments,  where  there  is  an  opportunity  of  using  to 
advantage  the  labor  of  those  persons  among  the  paupers,  who  are 
able  to  do  any  work,  and  who  are  thus  made  to  contribute,  in  a 
healthful  and  unexceptionable  occupation,  to  their  own  support. 
This  is  an  excellent  arrangement,  and  the  results  have  in  many 


132  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

cases  been  highly  successful.  Here,  in  many  cases,  the  land 
might  be  wholly  cultivated  with  a  spade,  and  the  expense  of  a 
team  be  saved,  which  now  oftentimes  consumes  a  large  portion 
of  the  products  of  a  farm,  especially  where  the  farm  is  small,  a 
fnll  or  complete  team  being  as  much  required  for  the  cultivation 
of  a  small  as  of  a  large  farm. 

In  reference  to  this  subject,  though  it  may  not  be  deemed 
exactly  in  place,  I  may  be  allowed  to  remark  that,  as  far  as  my 
observation  extends,  nothing  of  this  sort  is  done  in  England ;  no 
farm  being  ever  connected  with  a  pauper  establishment,  and  only 
the  smallest  avails  being  had  from  the  labor  of  the  inmates 
Indeed,  it  is  obviously  judged  best  —  a  conclusion  which  1 
regard  with  great  distrust  —  to  prevent  rather  than  employ  the 
labor  of  the  paupers.  At  one  of  the  Unions  —  for  the  poor-houses 
in  England  go  by  that  name,  being  maintained  and  managed  by 
several  towns  or  parishes  uniting  together  for  this  object  —  I  saw 
a  well-dressed  and  respectable-looking  man  employed  in  sweep- 
ing the  walks,  and  trimming  the  grass-plats,  in  the  front  yard  : 
and,  upon  my  inquiring  whether  this  man  were  a  pauper,  I  was 
answered  in  the  negative,  and  informed  that  he  was  hired  as  a 
laborer  in  the  establishment,  because  it  was  deemed  bad  policy 
to  employ  any  of  the  paupers  in  any  such  work,  lest  the  place 
should  be  rendered  too  comfortable  and  attractive.  I  said  to 
myself,  —  and  I  hope  not  to  give  offence  in  publishing  my 
thoughts,  —  '•  The  English  certainly  have  their  own  ways  of  doing 
things."  I  am  not,  by  any  means,  prepared  to  say,  they  are  not 
the  best  that  could  be  adopted.  Indeed,  we  perhaps  ought  to 
think  them  the  best,  if  we  consider  how  much  experience  they 
have  had,  and  how  many  means  they  have  possessed  for  making 
the  most  full  experiments.  But  they  are  certainly,  in  this  respect, 
very  different  from  what  prevail  on  the  other  side  of  the  water. 
f  It  is  an  extraordinary  condition  of  things,  when,  in  the  midst  of 
I  want  and  suffering,  human  labor  must  be  thrown  away,  oj 
\  rather  the  exertion  of  it  forbidden. 


K 


CONDITION    OF    THE    LABORERS.  133 


XVII.  —  CONDITION    OF    THE    LABORERS. 

I  have  no  disposition  to  obtrude  my  opinion,  in  any  form,  so  as 
to  give  offence.  Indeed,  it  has  always  seemed  to  me  unreason- 
able in  any  case,  or  on  any  subject,  that  the  honest  opinions  of 
any  man  should  be  the  occasion  of  offence,  as  though  wethad 
the  same  control  of  our  opinions  as  we  have  of  our  limbs ;  as 
though  we  should  have  any  other  object,  in  any  matter,  but  the 
attainment  of  truth ;  and  as  if  there  were  any  way  of  attain- 
ing truth  but  by  the  utmost  freedom  of  discussion ;  and,  above 
all,  as  though  men  should,  under  any  circumstances,  feel  at  liberty 
to  exercise  the  same  tyranny  over  the  mind  which  physical  force 
and  political  stratagem  give  them  over  the  person. 

One  cannot  help  seeing  that  wealth  and  prosperity  axe  not 
always  coincident ;  that  wealth  is  not  therefore  the  infallible  in- 
dex of  prosperity.  In  many  cases,  —  and  perhaps  it  may  only  be 
rendered  more  striking  from  contrast,  —  the  extraordinary  accu- 
mulations of  wealth  on  one  side  are  followed  by  a  corresponding 
depression  on  the  other ;  while  the  rich  are  made  richer,  in  the 
same  proportion  the  poor  are  made  poorer.  As  wealth  increases, 
avarice  is  more  powerfully  stimulated,  and  labor  more  severely 
taxed.  In  the  richest  communities,  the  price  of  labor  is  always 
the  most  depressed ;  and  with  the  increase  of  luxury  the  desire  of 
indulgence  is  quickened  with  all  classes :  Avhat  might  properly 
be  termed  luxuries  and  superfluities  become  absolute  necessaries 
of  life,  and  the  expenses  of  living  are  proportionally  increased  to 
all.  We  may  deplore  such  results,  and  deem  it  easy  to  suggest  a 
remedy ;  but  what  remedy  is  of  general  or  of  practical  applica- 
tion? The  more  artificial  the  state  of  society  becomes,  the 
more  difficult  it  becomes  to  provide  the  means  of  living ;  and 
yet  who  would  return  to  the  state  of  nature,  or  abate  one  tittle 
in  the  actual  refinements  of  life  ?  Communities  are  growing  up 
among  us  upon  the  principles  of  perfect  equality  of  rank,  the 
equal  combination  of  labor,  and  an  entire  community  of  goods ; 
and  there  are  examples,  where  such  communities,  bound  together 
by  a  strong  religious  tie,  and  subject  to  a  most  despotic  govern- 
ment within  themselves,  have  been  maintained,  and  are  still 
flourishing.  But  without  this  religious  tie,  or  some  strong 
12 


134  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

personal  and  pecuniary  interest,  and  without  an  absolute  head, 
does  any  sober  man  dream  that  such  communities  can  be  sus- 
tained, excepting  within  the  narrowest  limits  ?  or  that  such  prin- 
ciples can  be  applied,  to  any  great  extent,  to  society  at  large, 
without  an  entire  change  in  the  whole  structure  of  society, 
and,  I  may  almost  add,  an  entire  renovation  of  human  nature 
itself?  Far  be  it  from  me,  however,  to  suggest  that  the  evils  of 
soctety  are  without  a  remedy,  or  at  least  beyond  alleviation. 
Our  own  country,  under  a  free  constitution  of  government,  and 
with  an  almost  unlimited  extent  of  the  most  fertile  territory, 
accessible  upon  the  easiest  terms,  presents,  perhaps,  the  most 
favorable  condition,  which  has  been  known,  for  a  security  of  the 
rights  of  labor,  and  the  just  fruition  of  its  products  ;  but  it  would 
be  a  great  injustice  to  infer  that  there  are  not  to  be  found  in 
England  many  generous  and  just  persons,  devoted  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  rights,  and  the  welfare  and  improvement,  of 
the  humble  and  laborious  classes.  There  cannot  be  a  doubt, 
that,  in  a  noiseless  and  unobtrusive  way,  much  is,  and  infinitely 
more  can  be,  done  for  these  objects ;  and  the  aim  of  every  good 
man,  as  far  as  he  has  any  power,  should  be  to  diffuse,  to  the 
greatest  extent  possible,  the  means  of  subsistence  and  comfort  to 
all,  and  to  remove  every  impediment  to  the  most  equal  distribu- 
tion of  the  products  of  labor  among  those  whose  labor  in  their 
production  gives  them  certainly  a  fair  claim  upon  these  products. 
Now,  whether  it  be  by  large  farms  or  by  small  allotments,  by 
plough  or  by  spade  husbandry,  that  mode  of  husbandry  by 
which  the  largest  amount  of  product,  and  at  the  least  expense, 
can  be  drawn  from  the  soil,  and  with  the  least  injury  to  its  pro- 
ductive powers,  is  to  be  preferred.  This  great  point  is  not  yet 
ascertained ;  and  its  determination  must  necessarily  be  different 
in  different  places  and  conditions.  But  it  is  with  England  a 
question  of  tremendous  importance,  what  is  to  become  of  the 
vast  accumulations  of  people,  which  are  continually  increasing 
here  at  the  rate  of  from  seven  hundred  to  a  thousand  per  day. 
It  is  impossible  to  become  accurately,  though  it  may  be  slightly, 
acquainted  with  the  condition  of  things  in  England,  the  actual 
suffering  for  a  want  of  the  means  of  subsistence,  which  prevails 
among  large  portions  of  the  population,  especially  in  some  of  the 
agricultural  districts,  and  not  to  feel  that  there  are  powerful 
elements  of  disease  at  work  in  the  social  body,  whose  disastrous 


CONDITION    OF    THE    LABORERS.  135 

effects  must  presently  be  felt  in  all  their  violence.  Men  with 
families  dependent  upon  their  labor,  earning  not  more  than  7  s., 
and  in  some  instances  even  less,  per  week,  and  oftentimes  with 
only  occasional  employment  at  that  rate,  present  objects  of  deep 
interest  to  a  philanthropic  mind.  Men  living  themselves  upon 
a  single  meal  per  day,  and  that  potatoes  only,  for  the  sake  of 
keeping  a  wife  and  children  from  absolute  starvation,  —  and  there 
is  ample  evidence  that  such  cases  exist, — present  a  sad  spectacle. 
What  are  the  remedies  for  such  a  condition  of  things,  if  remedies 
there  are  to  be  found,  it  is  not  within  my  province,  in  this  case,  to 
discuss.  It  is  a  hard  lot,  where  the  most  severe  and  unremitted 
labor  will  not  avail  to  procure  a  subsistence  for  one's  self  and 
family,  and  where,  with  immense  tracts  of  uncultivated  land, 
the  opportunity  even  of  exerting  this  labor,  however  cheerfully 
it  might  be  rendered,  is,  for  any  cause  whatever,  refused  or 
prevented.* 

The  subject,  it  appears  to  me,  —  and  perhaps  wholly  from  my 
being  unaccustomed  to  a  condition  of  things  in  any  degree  re- 
sembling it,  —  is  daily  assuming  a  fearful  aspect ;  I  do  not  mean 
of  danger  to  the  government,  — for  the  government  of  the  country 
seems  never  to  have  been  stronger,  —  but  fearful  in  its  bearings 
upon  the  public  peace,  the  public  morals,  the  security  of  property, 
and  the  state  of  crime.  I  make  no  apology  for  touching  upon  it, 
because  the  experience  of  an  old  cannot  be  without  its  advan- 
tages to  a  new  country,  and  the  condition  of  labor  is  a  subject 
which  materially  concerns  every  just  government.  Any  hopes 
of  a  government  being  founded  or  administered  upon  strictly 
moral  principles  are  contradicted  by  all  past  experience.!     The 

*  One  can  scarcely  read,  withoat  a  shudder,  the  following  declaration  of  a 
celebrated  economical  writer :  — 

"  A  man  born  into  the  world  already  possessed,  if  he  has  no  assistance  from  his 
parents,  upon  whom  he  has  a  just  demand,  or  from  society  for  his  labor,  has  no 
claim  for  the  smallest  portion  of  food,  and  no  busmess  where  he  was.  At  Nature's 
mighty  board  there  was  no  cover  for  him ;  she  tells  him  to  be  gone." 

This  passage,  which  appeared  in  the  first  edition  of  his  great  work,  was  after- 
wards suppressed,  being,  it  is  said,  too  strong  for  the  temperature  even  of  the 
rankest  of  the  economical  school. 

f  "  To  provide  for  us  in  our  necessities  is  not  in  the  power  of  government.  It 
would  be  a  vain  presumption  in  statesmen  to  think  that  they  can  do  it.  The 
people  maintain  them,  and  not  they  the  people.  It  is  in  the  power  of  government 
to  prevent  much  evil ;  it  can  do  very  little  positive  good  in  this,  or  perhaps  in  any 
thing  else.     It  is  not  only  so  of  the  state  and  the  statesman,  but  of  all  the  classes 


136 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


objects  of  almost  all  governments  seem  to  be  the  security  of  life 
and  property,  the  prevention  of  crimes  which  endanger  life  and 
property,  and  the  aggrandizement  of  those  in  power.  I  do  not 
know  that  more  can  be  expected  of  them  in  the  way  of  promoting 
good  morals,  excepting  in  the  suppression  of  the  direct  instruments 
of  vice,  the  support  of  religious  institutions,  and  the  provision  for 
the  education  of  the  people.  A  citizen  of  the  United  States,  from 
habit,  if  not  from  principle,  at  once  resists  and  abjures  any  inter- 
ference whatever  with  his  religion,  whether  considered  as  matter 
of  worship,  or  faith,  or  feeling,  because,  under  the  government  of 
his  own  country,  with  which  he  has  every  reason  to  be  satisfied, 
all  such  interference  is  absolutely  prohibited.  All  attempts  at 
enforcing  moral  duties  by  legal  enactments  would  be  futile  and 
hazardous,  since,  as  it  is  with  human  rights,  many  of  them  are 
imperfect,  so  it  is  with  human  duties,  many  of  them  are  so  unde- 
fined that  it  would  be  difficult  to  prescribe  them  with  any  prac- 
ticable exactness ;  and  laws  of  this  nature  are  necessarily  of  a 
negative  character.  They  may  forbid  that  which  shall  not  be 
done ;  but  it  is  much  more  difficult  to  enjoin  that  which  shall  be 
done.  They  may  determine  by  law  that  provision  shall  be  made 
that  no  man  actually  perish  of  hunger  in  the  streets ;  but  what 
degree  of  provision  short  of  absolute  starvation,  how  much  relief, 
and  how  much  comfort,  he  shall  have,  is  a  matter  far  more  diffi- 
cult to  be  thus  arranged.  The  provision  for  the  education  of 
the  people  is  more  clearly  within  the  power  and  the  duty  of  an 
enlightened  government,  on  the  ground,  not  simply  of  moral  ob- 
ligation, but  of  improving  the  national  industry,  increasing, 
consequently,  the  national  wealth,  and  of  elevating  generally 
the  character  of  the  people,  and  so  advancing  the  general 
improvement,    and    promoting     public     happiness    and    order. 


and  descriptions  of  the  rich.  They  are  the  pensioners  of  the  poor,  and  are  main- 
tained by  their  superfluity.  They  are  under  an  absolute,  hereditary,  and  inde- 
feasible dependence  on  those  who  labor,  and  are  miscalled  the  poor.  Nothmg- 
can  be  so  base  and  wicked  as  the  political  canting  language,  '  the  laboring  poor,^ 
Let  compassion  be  shown  in  action  ;  the  more  the  better,  according  to  every  man's 
ability,  but  let  there  be  no  lamentation  of  their  condition.  It  is  no  relief  to  their 
miserable  circumstances ;  it  is  only  an  insult  to  their  miserable  understandings. 
It  arises  from  a  total  want  of  charity,  or  a  total  want  of  thought  Want  of  one 
kind  was  never  relieved  by  want  of  any  other  kind.  Patience,  labor,  sobriety, 
frugality,  religion,  should  be  recommended  to  them ;  all  the  rest  is  downright 
fraud.    It  is  horrible  to  call  them  'the  once  happy  laborers.'  " —  Edmund  Burke. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    LABORERS.  137 

But  It  is  vain  to  look  to  any  government  for  any  thing  like  a 
paternal  superintendence  of  its  people.  On  a  large  scale  it  is  not 
practicable.  Those  who  govern  can  scarcely  be  expected  to 
have  virtue,  and  disinterestedness,  and  wisdom,  sufficient  for  such 
a  task ;  and  those  who  are  governed  would  not  willingly  submit 
to  their  injunctions  or  regulations.  Any  compulsory  influence 
would  be  unavailing.  But,  then,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  just 
government  to  afford  to  every  one  of  its  subjects,  as  far  as 
depends  on  itself,  the  means  of  subsistence ;  and  institutions  or 
regulations,  by  which  the  right  and  opportunity  for  a  man  to 
exert  his  talents  in  a  way  not  morally  injurious  to  another,  are 
taken  away,  or  abridged,  or  in  any  degree  interfered  with,  seem 
wholly  wrong  and  unjust.  It  would  be  invidious  in  me,  because 
perhaps  out  of  place,  to  point  out  in  any  way  how  the  institu- 
tions of  this  country  so  interfere,  if  interfere  they  do ;  but,  as  I 
have  said  before,  the  condition  of  a  large  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion, —  I  speak  of  those  in  the  rural  districts,  —  being  prevented 
the  opportunity  of  applying  the  labor  by  which  they  might  secure 
not  only  a  subsistence,  but  the  comforts  of  life,  forebodes  nothing 
but  evil,  and  may,  with  strong  reason,  engage  the  anxious 
inquiries  of  those  who  have  any  power  in  the  case,  either  of  alle- 
viation or  remedy. 

The  population  is  increasing  throughout  the  kingdom  with 
amazing  rapidity  ;  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  fact  is  beyond 
a  doubt,  that  the  increase  is  always  greater  among  the  wretched 
poor,  whom  extreme  misery  has  made  entirely  reckless  of  con- 
sequences, than  among  that  class  whose  circumstances  are  com- 
paratively comfortable,  and  who  have  learnt  that  their  comfort 
can  be  secured  only  by  a  wholesome  and  wise  providence.  The 
complaint  is  universal  and  continual,  that  the  population  is  too 
numerous ;  but  this  does  not  prevent  their  increase.  Few  will 
be  bold  enough  to  hazard  the  question,  Who  is  here  who  has  not 
a  right  to  be  here  ?  nor,  like  a  party  of  shipwrecked  sailors  in  a 
boat,  to  propose  the  decision  by  lot,  as  to  which  of  the  party  shall 
be  thrown  overboard.  But  the  great  question  must  be  met  —  not, 
How  are  the  surplus  population  to  be  got  rid  of?  but,  How  shall 
they  be  sustained?  The  insular  character  of  Great  Britain 
necessarily  and  absolutely  limits  its  capacity  of  providing  for  its 
population  from  its  own  soil,  although  that  capacity  is  yet  far  from 
being  reached.  Idleness  begets  idleness  ;  beggary  produces  and 
12* 


138  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

perpetuates  beggary  ;  crime  engenders  crime.  Sickness  and  neg- 
lect —  a  sad  relief,  alas  !  to  the  benevolent  mind  —  may  do  some- 
thing towards  checking  this  rapid  accumulation ;  for  it  is  stated 
in  the  commissioners'  returns,  and  has  been  asserted  recently  in 
the  House  of  Peers,  by  a  distinguished  nobleman,  that,  in  England 
and  Scotland,  fifty  thousand  individuals  perish  annually  by 
disease,  arising  from  the  wretchedness  of  their  habitations,  owing 
to  imperfect  ventilation,  and  the  want  of  sufficient  drainage.* 
This,  however,  is  a  small  number  to  be  set  against  the  annual 
increase.  Emigration  may  somewhat  alleviate  the  evil ;  trans- 
portation contributes  its  small  share.  It  is  a  curious  fact, 
however,  that  disease  seems  scarcely  to  produce  any  sensible  im- 
pression on  the  population,  and  that  the  losses  occasioned  by 
severe  and  wide-spread  epidemics  are  rapidly  filled  up  and 
obliterated.  The  effect  of  the  extraordinary  improvements  al- 
ready made,  and  daily  being  made,  in  machinery,  in  the  manu- 
facturing districts,  is  to  diminish  the  amount  of  human  labor 
employed,  and  throw  more  destitute  hands  into  the  labor  market. 
What,  then,  under  these  circumstances,  is  to  be  done,  is  a  question, 
to  the  great  moment  of  which  I  have  already  alluded.  It  is  not, 
in  such  a  case,  for  men  to  wrap  themselves  up  in  their  own 
selfishness  and  indifference,  and  say,  ''  Let  things  take  care  of 
themselves." 

I  was  conversing  with  a  friend  on  this  subject,  a  gentleman 
of  great  intelligence,  and  not  wanting  in  benevolence ;  and  his 
remark  was,  that  an  increase  of  production  would  do  little  for 

*  This  same  nobleman,  in  discussing  this  important  subject,  stated  that,  in  ten 
years,  a  larger  number  perished,  in  England,  from  these  causes,  than  the  whole 
number  of  slaves  emancipated  in  their  colonies  ;  and  for  which  Great  Britain  paid, 
by  a  noble  exertion,  twenty  million  pounds  sterling,  or  nearly  one  hundred  million 
of  dollars. 

This  is  a  curious  fact,  and  every  day's  history  of  public  beneficence  presents 
analogous  facts  —  cases  in  which  thousands  and  millions  are  lavished  upon  objects, 
doubtlessdeservingof  sympathy  and  kindness,  thousands  of  miles  distant  from  us, 
where  the  results  are  sometimes  doubtful,  and  can  never  be  known,  but  through 
the  testimony  of  interested  parties,  while  objects  of  mercy  and  kindness,  whose 
claims  are  not  less  strong  and  urgent,  and  whose  condition  can  be  perfectly 
known,  and  where  the  results  of  our  efforts  may  be  watched  and  ascertained, 
perish  in  all  their  want,  ignorance,  wretchedness,  and  profligacy,  at  the  very 
thresholds  of  our  doors.  Certainly,  true  charity,  which  extends  its  wide  embrace 
to  afflicted  humanity  every  where,  will  not  end  at  home  ;  and  it  might  often  be  as 
well  for  it  to  begin  there. 


CONDITION    OF    THE    LABORERS.  139 

the  lower  classes,  for  they  would  get  no  more ;  with  the  price  of 
bread,  their  wages,  if  lower  be  possible,  were  likely  to  be  re- 
duced;   the  advantages  of  such  increased  products  would,  of 
course,  go  into  the  hands  of  the  land-holders  and  farmers,  or  the 
large  manufacturers  and  mill-owners ;  and  that,  for  his  part,  he 
saw  no  ultimate  remedy  but  starvation ;  that  is,  such  an  actual 
reduction  of  the  means  of  living,  that  multitudes  should   gradu- 
ally perish  from  want,  and  so  thin  off  the  surplus  population. 
He  said  this,  too,  with  all  the  coolness  and  indifference  with 
which  he  would  speak  of  brushing  off  the  flies  from  the  dinner-  . 
table.     "  Good  God !  "    I  said  within  myself,   "  has  it  come  to  \ 
this,  that  familiarity  with  want  and  misery  can  render  the  heart     I 
of  man  capable  of  contemplating  such  a  result  with  calmness,      I 
and  that  human  life  on  earth  should  come  to  be  deemed  utterly     / 
worthless  ?     If  there  be  any  humanity,  or  any  religion,  left  in  the  / 
world,  they  must  be  roused  to  prevent  such  a  catastrophe." 

Whatever   anxiety,  however,  the   prospect   may  excite   in  a 
benevolent  mind,  there  is  no  room  for  despair.     It  is  not  consist- 
ent with  the  nature  of  my  present  undertaking,  to  discuss  this 
subject,  in  its  various  bearings  and  aspects,  in  this  place.     If  life 
and  health  are  spared  me,  I  shall  do  it  in  another  form.     The 
people  do  not  so  much  demand  charity,  as  work.     They  do  not 
so  much  require  to  be  supported,  as  to  be  allowed  to  support 
themselves.     The   remarkable   experiment,  already  referred  to,\ 
of  Mrs.   Gilbert,  a  sagacious  and  benevolent  woman,  at  East- 1 
bourne,  in  Sussex  county,  who  has  four  hundred  tenants,  on  I 
small  allotments,  and  of  whom  not  more  than  three  have  failed  \ 
to  pay  their  rent  punctually,  and  who,  on  these  small  allotments,    I 
do,  in  many  cases,  all  that  is  necessary,  and  in  all,  much  for  the  / 
support   of  their   families,  should   command  attention.     There' 
remains,  as  I  have  before  stated,  an  immense  amount  of  land, 
which  might  be  cultivated  and  rendered  productive.      These 
considerations  present  the  strongest  inducements  to  an  improved 
agriculture.     More  land  should  be  brought  into  cultivation ;  that  \\ 
which  is  cultivated  should  be  better  cultivated.     The  laborers  '  ] 
should  have  every  encouragement  and  opportunity  to  help  them- 
selves.    The  interest  of  the  farmers  cannot  be  separated  from 
that  of  the  laborers ;  the   interests  of  one   class  from  that  of 
another.     Embarked  in  the  same  vessel,  they  must  succeed  or 
suffer,  they  must  sink  or  swim,  together. 


140  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

I  have  been,  again  and  again,  told  that  a  material  change  has 
taken  place  in  the  condition  of  the  farm  laborers,  within  the  last 
fifty  years,  or  even  a  much  less  time.  The  practice  of  forming 
large  farms,  by  uniting  small  ones,  has  tended  to  remove  the 
laborer  farther  from  the  intercourse  and  superintendence  of  his 
employer.  Being  engaged  in  large  numbers,  individual  interest 
and  character  have  been  lost  sight  of :  and,  cottages  on  the  estates 
having  been  suffered  to  fall  into  decay,  and  not  being  renewed, 
the  laborers  have  been  driven  into  villages,  with  a  great  restric- 
tion of  their  comforts,  and  exposed  to  the  temptations  incident  to 
such  localities.  The  large  establishments  have  lost  that  patri- 
archal character  which  used  to  belong  to  them ;  men  are  em- 
ployed much  more  by  the  day,  and  the  week,  than  by  the  year, 
as  formerly ;  and  are  used,  and  thrown  aside,  as  occasion  may 
require,  like  mere  implements  upon  the  farm.  Those  strong 
personal  ties,  so  favorable  in  their  influence  upon  the  lower  classes, 
and  not  without  most  valuable  moral  effects  upon  the  higher, 
have  almost  ceased  to  exist.  It  was  a  delightful  circumstance, 
when,  formerly,  without  any  infringement  of  personal  liberty,  a 
laborer  was  considered  as  a  fixture  upon  the  place,  and  as  having 
a  sort  of  hereditary  connection  with  the  family  and  the  estate 
of  his  employer,  which  only  the  most  imperious  reasons  could 
dissolve  ;  so  men  and  women  lived  in  the  same  service  twenty, 
thirty,  fifty  years,  and  often  for  the  whole  course  of  their  natural 
lives ;  their  children  and  children's  children  were  often  born 
upon  the  homestead,  and  the  interests  of  the  master  and  the 
servants  became  identical.  As  they  were  paid,  likewise,  in  kind, 
instead  of  money,  they  themselves,  being,  in  a  small  way,  sellers 
of  produce,  became  personally  interested  in  the  state  of  the 
markets ;  and  ties  of  familiarity,  long  vicinity,  and  connection, 
mutual  dependence,  and  a  mutual  stake  in  the  results  of  their 
joint  labor,  served  to  connect  them  the  more  closely  together. 
No  one,  under  these  circumstances,  can  doubt  the  advantages  of 
such  a  relation  on  both  sides.  There  are  many  cases,  which  have 
come  under  my  observation,  where  a  similar  connection  exists, 
though  in  a  form  very  much  qualified  by  modern  manners,  and 
where  individuals  and  families  have  been  in  the  same  service  for 
many  long  years,  and  the  aged  among  them  are  provided  for,  by 
those  in  whose  service  their  lives  have  been  passed,  in  the  kindest 
manner,  after  all   power  of  useful  or  active  labor  has  ceased 


CONDITION    OF    THE    LABORERS.  141 

and  they  are  staggering  under  the  heavy  burdens  of  age  and 
decay.  I  have  aheady,  in  my  First  Report,  referred  to  instances 
of  this  nature.  But  the  system  most  prevalent  is  perfectly  heart- 
less :  labor  is  considered  merely  as  labor ;  human  muscles  and 
sinews  are  regarded  like  the  parts  of  any  other  implement ;  and 
when  their  power  ceases,  or  their  elasticity  is  destroyed,  they  are 
thrown  aside,  like  worn-out  machinery,  into  those  melancholy 
receptacles  of  decay  and  poverty,  which  have,  very  properly, 
ceased  to  be  called  alms-houses^  and  which  necessity,  and  Jiot 
charity,  provides.  I  cannot  say  that  such  sentiments  are  pecu- 
liar to  England.  They  are,  it  is  feared,  becoming  too  common 
in  the  United  States  ;  not  merely  in  the  departments  of  agricul- 
tural, and  manufacturing,  and  mechanical  labor,  but  likewise 
reaching  the  domestic  and  household  relations,  where  least  of  all 
they  should  have  obtruded  themselves.  This  comes,  in  some 
measure,  from  that  narrow  and  mean  utilitarian  philosophy, 
which  stimulates  avarice  into  a  diseased  action,  and  measures 
every  good  in  life  by  a  purely  pecuniary  standard.  Whatever 
tends  to  divide  these  different  classes,  either  in  interest  or  feeling, 
ic5,  to  a  degree,  and  ultimately,  I  fear,  it  must  prove  in  an  equal 
degree,  injurious  to  both  parties.  Feelings  of  indifference,  or 
contempt,  or  cruel  disdain,  on  the  one  hand,  are  likely  to  be  met 
with  a  sense  of  injury,  a  feeling  of  hate  and  revenge,  on  the 
other  ;  and  one  of  the  greatest  curses  with  which  Heaven  could 
have  visited  mankind,  would  have  been  to  have  made  them  in 
any  sense  independent  of  each  other.  There  are  no  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  condition  of  society  more  to  be 
regretted  than  such  as  separate  different  classes  too  strongly  from 
each  other,  and  create  hostile  or  conflicting  interests.  A  perfect 
equality  of  condition  among  men  is  a  chimera ;  and  if,  by  any 
conceivable  or  possible  arrangement,  it  could  take  place,  the 
earth,  in  its  rapid  revolutions,  would  not  pass  the  half  of  a  degree, 
but  it  must  be  interrupted.  But  an  equality  of  natural  rights  is 
a  position  which,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  speak  for  one  born 
and  educated  in  a  condition  of  society  where  it  has  been  always 
acknowledged,  would  not  be  readily  relinquished.  Now,  if  there 
is  any  right  which  should  be  held  sacred,  next  to  that  which 
every  man  has  to  his  own  person,  it  is  the  right  of  honest  labor 
to  an  ample  share  of  the  products  of  that  labor.  The  rights 
of  the   rich  man   to   his   possessions,   honestly   and  honorably 


142  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

acquired,  are  as  just  as  those  of  the  poorest  man  to  the  crust 
which  feeds  or  the  coarse  garment  which  covers  him ;  but,  in 
every  condition  of  society,  the  rights  of  the  rich  and  the  poor 
are  reciprocal,  and  their  dependence  mutual  and  absolute.  If  the 
poor  are  compelled,  under  the  arbitrary  institutions  of  society,  — 
and  I  use  the  term  arbitrary  in  no  offensive  sense,  —  more  sensibly 
to  feel  their  dependence,  the  upper  classes  in  society,  with  that 
spirit  of  justice  and  kindness  which  constitutes  the  highest 
grace  of  poAver,  and  wealth,  and  rank,  should  be  prompt  to  show 
their  sense  of  how  much  they  owe  even  of  all  this  power,  and 
wealth,  and  rank,  to  the  labors,  and  services,  and  fealty,  of  the 
poor  ;  and,  without  losing  sight,  as  far  as  is  consistent  with  the 
spirit  of  Christianity,  of  what  is  called  their  position  in  society, 
to  endeavor  to  soften  the  severity  of  those  distinctions,  which, 
if  they  mark  the  elevation  of  their  own  condition,  equally 
indicate  the  depressed  condition  of  others.  In  that  beautiful 
language,  to  which  every  serious  mind  will  listen  with  pro- 
found reverence,  "  The  eye  must  not  say  unto  the  hand,  I  have 
no  need  of  thee,  nor  yet  the  head  to  the  feet,  I  have  no  need 
of  you  \  "  seeing  that  even  those  parts  of  the  body  which  are  least 
''  comely,"  are  as  essential  to  the  perfect  and  healthy  organiza- 
tion of  the  machine,  as  those  on  which  the  Creator  has  im- 
pressed the  highest  attributes  of  grace,  expression,  and  beauty, 
and  must  be  equally  nourished  from  the  great  central  reservoir 
of  life  and  strength,  or  the  whole  must  suffer  from  weakness  or 
decay. 

I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  there  is  any  greater  disregard  of 
these  principles  than  is  to  be  expected  in  a  condition  of  society 
so  highly  artificial  as  that  which  exists  here,  and  where  the 
accumulations  of  individual  wealth,  and  of  what,  from  its  heredi- 
tary and  inalienable  character,  may  be  termed  class-property,  are 
so  enormous.  I  do  not  mean,  as  I  have  already  said,  to  express 
any  apprehension  or  alarm  for  the  safety  of  the  present  institu- 
tions of  England ;  for,  though  the  flood  of  population  is  rising  with 
a  continually  accelerated  force,  and  in  almost  a  geometrical  ratio, 
yet  wealth  here  is  so  strong,  and  poverty  so  powerless,  and  the 
safety  of  the  whole  is  so  essentially  concerned  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  integrity  of  its  present  form  of  society,  and,  above 
all,  the  experience  of  a  neighboring  nation,  on  the  subject  of 
revolution,  is  so  admonitory  and  terrific,  that  almost  every  thing 


CONDITION    OF    TUT     LABORERS.  143 

Will  be  endured  before  any  violence  is  hazarded  or  permitted. 
Still  it  is  obvious  to  every  reflecting  mind  how  important  it  is  to 
the  public  peace  and  the  security  of  property,  that  the  rights  of 
the  laborious  classes  should  be  fully  acknowledged,  and  main- 
tained in  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  equity,  as  well  as  of  strict 
legal  justice,  and  that  every  philanthropic  effort  should  be 
stimulated  and  encouraged  to  protect  and  comfort  them,  and, 
more  than  that,  by  education,  moral  and  intellectual,  —  for,  with- 
out moral,  intellectual  too  often  proves  a  curse,  —  to  elevate  them 
in  their  social  condition.  Next  to  the  satisfactions  of  an  honest 
conscience,  the  highest  of  all  earthly  pleasures  to  a  good  man,  is 
that  of  conferring  happiness  upon  others.  I  have  seen,  in  Eng- 
land, with  a  gratification  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  express, 
among  persons  of  the  most  brilliant  rank  and  the  most  com- 
manding influence,  many  instances  of  a  conduct  which  deserved 
and  secured  all  this  felicity.  Every  where  men  are  to  be  found 
feeling  their  high  responsibleness,  and,  without  any  offensive 
assumption  of  superiority,  devoting  all  their  energies  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  houseless,  and  to  the  comfort  and  improvement 
of  those  whom  divine  Providence  has  cast  within  the  circle  of 
their  beneficence,  and  enjoying  all  that  calm  security  which  such 
conduct  is  sure  to  bring  with  it.  I  confess  there  has  been  no 
occasion  in  my  life  when  I  have  been  so  much  disposed  to  envy 
the  possession  of  wealth  and  power.  On  the  other  hand,  I  dare 
say  I  shall  only  be  compassionated  for  my  simplicity,  when  I 
add  that  the  high  stone  and  brick  walls,  with  which  houses,  and 
parks,  and  properties,  are  here  often  intrenched  and  fortified,  so 
high  that  even  the  nimblest  jail-bird  would  look  at  them  with 
despair,  and  the  fences  every  where  bristling  with  iron  spikes  and 
broken  glass,  and  the  sullen  gates  opening  "with  discordant  jar," 
and  the  ferocious  watch-dogs,  to  say  nothing  of  other  mastiffs, 
often  stationed  by  them,  from  whose  terrific  growl  even  the 
honest  applicant  shrinks  back  with  dread ;  and  then  the  signs 
which  meet  your  eye  constantly,  ''All  vagrants  and  beggars  for- 
bidden here,"  "  All  trespassers  here  will  be  prosecuted  to  the 
utmost  rigor  of  the  law,"  and  ''  Steel  man-traps  set  here,"  often 
bring  a  cold  chill  over  me,  and  compel  me  to  feel  that  property 
held  under  such  cautions  loses  somewhat  of  its  value.  At  the 
same  time,  it  makes  me  estimate  the  more  highly  a  condition  of 
society  where  the  road  of  acquisition  is  equally  open  to  all,  and 


144  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

where  property  being  more  equally  distributed,  and  in  almost  all 
cases  the  fruit  of  personal  industry,  its  rights  are  more  readily 
admitted,  and  its  protection  becomes  matter  of  equal  and  uni- 
versal concern. 

I  return  now  to  speak  of  the  present  actual  condition  of  agri- 
culture in  England.  I  have  dwelt  largely,  but  I  hope  not  too 
largely,  upon  miscellaneous  and  incidental  considerations.  I 
propose  now  to  consider  the  actual  condition  and  character  of 
English  agriculture ;  the  improvements  which  it  has  effected : 
and  those  which  remain  to  be  devised. 


XVIII.  —  PROGRESS    OF    AGRICULTURE,  COMPARED 
WITH    OTHER    PURSUITS. 

I  have  already  said  that  the  agriculture  of  England  —  and  here 
I  include  Scotland — is  highly  improved  ;  but  I  may  say,  I  think, 
with  confidence,  and  certainly  without  censoriousness,  that  it  has 
not  yet  reached  that  degree  of  excellence  to  which  it  is  capable 
of  being  carried.  In  parts  of  the  country,  not  nmch  has  been 
done ;  in  the  best  cultivated  districts,  it  would  be  presumptuous 
to  say  that  the  goal  of  perfection  has  been  reached.  Among 
the  highest  gifts  with  which  Heaven  has  endued  the  human 
mind  is  a  generous  and  insatiable  ambition  after  excellence  ;  an 
avarice  of  improvement,  if  so  it  may  be  termed,  which  character- 
izes a  great  mind ;  which  knows  in  no  case  entire  satisfaction ; 
which  no  sooner  mounts  one  summit  tlian  it  essays  to  climb  a 
higher ;  and  which,  if  in  any  thing  it  should  reach  barriers  that 
are  absolutely  impassable,  would,  like  the  celebrated  hero  of  anti- 
quity, "weep  that  it  had  no  more  worlds  to  conquer."  I  am 
not  willing  to  admit  that  this  ambition,  one  of  the  noblest  attri- 
butes of  the  human  soul,  can  ever  be  stimulated  to  too  great  a 
degree.  Cobbett,  in  his  terse,  energetic,  but  rather  coarse  manner, 
says  that  ''he  despises  a  man  who  is  contented  with  his  condi- 
tion ; "  and  in  the  sense  in  which  he  obviously  designed  to  be 
understood,  I  quite  agree  with  him,  that  no  man  should  be  satis- 
fied  with   good  while  better  is  attainable ;    and  that  it  would 


PROGRESS    OF    AGRICULTURE.  145 

indeed  be  a  sad  condition  of  things,  when  the  capacity,  and  still 
more  the  disposition,  for  improvement  should  cease. 

It  is,  and,  as  long  as  I  can  remember,  it  has  been,  common  to 
decry  the  farmers,  as  a  stupid,  ignorant,  plodding  race,  satisfied 
always  to  jog  on  in  the  steps  of  their  fathers,  and  averse  to  any 
improvements,  such  as  are  going  forward  in  other  departments  of 
industry.  I  think  I  may  confidently  deny  the  allegation  ;  and  I 
regard  the  reproach  with  the  disdain  which  it  merits.  My  own 
observations,  in  England  and  the  United  States,  lead  me  to  the 
conclusion,  that,  after  making  every  just  allowance  for  the  neces- 
sary difference  of  circumstances  in  the  different  cases,  there  is  as 
much  intelligence  in  regard  to  their  art,  and  as  strong  a  spirit  of 
improvement,  with  the  agricultural  as  with  any  class  in  the  com- 
munity ;  and,  more  than  that,  the  improvements,  which  have  been 
actually  accomplished  in  the  agricultural  art,  are  in  no  respect 
inferior  to  those  which  have  been  effected  in  manufactures  and 
commerce,  or  in  the  higher  professions,  —  if  so  we  submit  to  call 
them,  which  I  confess  I  do  with  great  reluctance, — medicine 
or  law ;  I  would  add  theology,  if  I  dared ;  but  I  am  afraid  I 
should  get  into  hot  water. 

In  medicine,  if  under  that  head  we  include  surgery,  one  can- 
not go  through  the  streets  of  London,  and  observe,  at  the  shop- 
windows,  the  models  of  wooden  legs,  and  artificial  ears,  and  glass 
eyes,  and  mineral  teeth,  and  the  promise  of  a  new  nose,  where 
the  victim  of  misfortune  has  been  deprived  of  his  proboscis, 
without  acknowledging  that  the  triumphs  of  the  surgical  art  are 
as  brilliant  as  they  are  useful  and  humane.  If  one  likewise 
should  place  any  reliance  upon  the  numberless  patent  medicines 
and  nostrums  which  decorate  the  pages  of  the  newspapers,  he 
would  be  led  to  infer  that  the  reign  of  disease  was  broken  up, 
and  the  elixir  of  immortality  at  length  discovered.  But  whoever 
looks  into  the  medical  reports,  and  observes  the  variety  of  systems 
and  modes  of  practice  which  prevail,  and  which  different  col- 
leges of  physicians  seem  to  bring  out  as  regularly,  and  in  almost 
equal  numbers,  as  the  good  housewife's  hens  bring  out  their  broods 
in  the  spring,  and  especially  reads  the  accounts  of  the  various 
experiments,  to  which,  for  the  benefit  of  science,  their  patients 
are  unconsciously  subjected,  and  by  which,  without  the  credit  of 
inclination  or  consent,  they  are  made,  at  their  own  personal  ex- 
pense, suffering,  and  peril,  to  contribute  to  the  most  philanthropic 
13 


146  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

discoveries, — it  cannot  be  claimed  for  medicine,  that  it  is  alto- 
gether above  the  charge  of  empiricism,  or  that  it  has  yet  accom- 
plished all  that  is  to  be  desired  in  lessening  the  number  or 
alleviating  the  virulence  of  diseases,  or  in  restoring  human  life, 
with  any  confidence,  to  even  a  tithe  of  that  longevity,  which  is 
claimed  for  it  in  those  patriarchal  ages  when  apothecaries'  shops, 
and  medical  schools,  and  degrees,  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
established.  It  is  scarcely  better  with  the  law.  One  of  the  most 
distinguished  legal  gentlemen  in  England  has  lately  stated,  in  his 
place  in  Parliament,  that  such  is  the  condition  of  the  criminal  law, 
that  even  the  most  learned  in  the  profession  cannot,  in  many  cases, 
determine  whether  he  is,  by  particular  actions,  committing  an 
offence  or  not.  The  records  of  the  courts  daily  show  that  the 
most  momentous  decisions  often  turn  upon  points  the  most 
abstruse,  and  as  yet  absolutely  unsettled ;  that  even  the  most 
learned  judges  on  the  bench  disagree  in  matters  both  of  law  and 
equity,  involving  property  and  life  ;  and  it  seems  but  too  often 
the  test  of  legal  eminence  and  skill  to  ascertain,  not  whether  it 
be  practicable  to  get  ''  a  camel,"  but  whether  the  lawyer  can  get 
himself  or  his  client,  ''  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,"  as  being  the 
most  brilliant  triumph  of  his  art.*     In  theology,  it  cannot  be  said 

*  In  a  recent  trial,  a  brute  in  human  shape,  or  ratlier  a  demoniac,  —  for  brutes 
are  not  capable  of  actions  so  malicious,  —  was  indicted  for  wounding,  maiming, 
and  injuring,  a  horse.  He,  it  seems,  in  the  fury  of  his  passion,  had  drawn  out  the 
tongue  of  the  horse,  and,  by  rubbing  it  against  one  of  his  teeth,  had  cut  off  four  oi 
five  inches  of  it,  which  he  threw  at  the  horse's  head.  His  counsel  opposed  the 
indictment,  on  the  ground  that  there  could,  as  defined  by  law,  be  no  wounding 
but  where  some  instrument  was  used ;  butthetootli  was  not  Q.n  instrument ;  —  there 
could  be  no  maiming  but  where  some  limh  was  injured ;  but  the  tongue  was  not  a 
limh  ;  —  and  that  there  was  no  injury,  because,  though  the  horse  found  some  diffi- 
culty in  eating  his  oats,  he  was  otherwise  as  useful  for  labor  as  before  his  tongue 
was  cut  off.  On  these  grounds  the  prosecution  failed,  and  the  savage  escaped. 
Under  such  an  administration  of  justice,  it  would  scarcely  have  been  surprising,  if 
the  horse,  had  he  not  lost  his  tongue,  had  himself  spoken  out ;  and  it  would  have 
been  only  fair  if  he  had  been  allowed  to  bite  off"  the  ears  of  the  lawyer,  and  of  a 
magistrate  who  sanctioned  such  law. 

At  a  court  of  assizes  which  I  attended,  and  where  the  criminal  calendar  was 
heavy,  a  young  married  woman,  of  decent  and  respectable  appearance,  having  a 
husband  and  children,  and  against  whose  character,  in  other  respects,  nothing  was 
alleged,  was  sentenced  to  ten  days' solitary  imprisonment,  for  having  taken  for  her 
fire,  on  the  estate  of  a  countess,  near  which  her  cottage  stood,  a  stick  of  wood, 
valued  at  threepence,  from  a  tree  that  had  been  felled  and  partly  cut  up.  If 
tlie  tree  had  not  been  cut  down,  and  she  had  taken  a  piece  as  large,  the  act 


I 


PROGRESS    OF    AGRICULTURE.  147 

that  much  progress  has  been  made  in  determining  many  ques- 
tions which  have  vexed  men's  minds  for  centuries.  I  confess, 
when  I  was  in  the  Bodleian  library,  at  Oxford,  that  immense 
repository  of  the  labors  of  so  many  burning  brains  and  aching 
hearts,  with  its  five  hundred  thousand  volumes,  and  considered 
that,  beyond  all  question,  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  of  its 
thick  octavos  and  ponderous  quartos  and  folios  were  commenta- 
ries upon  the  Scriptures,  or  discussions  of  disputed  questions  in 
theology,  and  yet,  in  respect  to  most  of  them,  that  we  are  still  at 
sea,  and  no  land  in  sight,  I  could  not  escape  the  conviction,  that 
here,  too,  man  is  still  in  leading-strings,  and  has  yet  scarcely 
taken  ^'  the  first  steps  of  infancy." 

In  respect  to  manufactures  and  commerce,  if  we  compare  the 
common  operatives  in  either  of  these  departments  with  those  of 
the  same  class  in  agriculture,  —  the  laborers  in  the  mills,  or  the 
sailors  on  boardship,  with  the  common  laborers  on  the  farm,  —  we 
shall  find  no  great  advantage,  in  intellectual  progress,  which  the 
one  has  over  the  other ;  but,  again,  if  we  compare  the  highest 
class  of  farmers  with  the  highest  class  of  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers, it  will  certainly  be  no  disparagement  to  the  latter 
classes  to  say  that  they  are  not  in  advance  of  the  best-informed 
agriculturists ;  and  that  agriculture  is  now  as  much  a  matter  of 
the  mind,  as  much  a  matter  of  intellectual  observation  and  in- 


would  have  been  a  simple  trespass,  and  she  would  have  been  mulcted  in  a  fine 
only :  as  it  was,  however,  it  was  a.  felony  or  crime,  and  she  was  punished  accord- 
ingly. I  could  easily  imagine  the  amazement  of  the  poor  unfortunate  creature 
at  so  subtile  and  philosophical  a  distinction.  I  must  add,  though  it  may  seem  out 
of  place,  that  a  criminal  prosecution  for  an  oJBTence  of  this  nature  can  have  no 
other  effect  than  to  engender  a  bitter  malignity  on  the  part  of  the  poor  towards  the 
powerful,  and  that  the  generally  severe  administration  of  penal  justice  upon  the 
humble  and  defenceless,  (not,  I  must  confess,  peculiar  to  England,)  when  the  large 
flies  so  often  break  tlirough  the  cobweb  of  the  law,  and  escape  by  intrigue  or  in- 
fluence, can  have  little  effect  in  producing  reformation ;  and  its  main  tendency 
must  be  to  nourish,  on  the  part  of  tlie  lower  classes,  a  deep  resentment  of  the 
partiality,  and  an  utter  hatred  of  the  power,  to  which  they  are  subjected.  A 
paternal  administration  of  justice  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  expected ;  but  what  an 
infinite  amount  of  guilt  and  wretchedness  would  be  saved,  if  the  circumstances  of 
the  guilty  could  be  more  mercifully  considered ;  especially  if  humanity  and  pub- 
lic justice  could  be  more  exerted  in  preventing  rather  than  in  punishing  crime ; 
above  all,  if  society  itself,  by  its  omissions  or  its  institutions,  were  not,  in  too 
many  cases,  the  tempter,  the  minister,  and  the  pander  to  crime,  as  well  as  its 
terrible  avensrer! 


148  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

quiry,  as  aiiy  one  of  the  practical  arts  of  life ;  and  at  the  present 
moment,  it  is  occupying  as  much  attention  from  the  highest  class 
of  minds  as  any  other  of  the  business  pursuits  of  life. 

I  hope,  viewed  in  this  aspect,  I  shall  not  be  thought  to  speak 
Avith  undue  warmth  on  this  subject.  I  have,  1  am  aware,  already 
alluded  to  it ;  but  I  am  anxious  to  assert  the  dignity  of  a  pursuit 
which  I  regard  among  the  most  honorable,  as  it  is  among  the 
most  innocent  and  useful,  in  life  ;  and  I  would,  if  possible,  soften  its 
aspect,  and  multiply  its  attractions,  to  a  large  class  of  persons, 
who  have  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  it  with  indifference  or 
disdain,  but  who  would  be  sure  to  find  in  it,  if  ardently  and 
intelligently  pursued,  health  for  the  body,  and  peace  and  satisfac- 
tion— nay  more,  the  strongest  and  most  delightful  interest — for 
the  mind. 


XIX. —  ACTUAL    IMPROVEMENTS    liN    ENGLISH 
AGRICULTURE. 

But  of  what  nature  are  the  improvements  which  agriculture 
has  actually  made  in  Great  Britain,  which  determine  the  present 
high  condition  of  the  art  ?  A  stranger  cannot,  of  course,  from 
personal  experience,  compare  her  present  condition  with  what  it 
was ;  yet  the  marks  of  progress  are  so  obvious  that  the  most 
transient  observer  recognizes  them  ;  and  many  are  now  in  the  pro- 
cess of  accomplishment,  which  fill  him  with  delightful  surprise. 
Many  of  these  improvements  are  among  the  noblest  triumphs  of 
art,  and  mark,  as  strongly  as  in  almost  any  other  cases,  the  power 
of  mind  over  matter,  the  subjugation  of  physical  elements  to  an 
intellectual  sovereign. 

1.  Draining,  Irrigation,  and  Warping.  —  Much  of  what  has 
been  done  is  entirely  out  of  sight ;  whole  fields,  thousands  and 
thousands  of  acres  of  land,  have  been  underdrained  by  pipes  and 
channels,  spreading  themselves  like  beautiful  net- work  under  the 
surface,  taking  off  all  the  surplus  moisture,  and  converting  cold, 
unfruitful,  and  unsightly  morasses  into  productive  and  beautifid 
fields.     It  would  be  curious,  if  it  were  possible,  to  approximate 


ACTUAL    IMPROVEMENTS    IN    ENGLISH     AGRICULTURE.  149 

the  amount  of  this  work  which  has  been  done  ;  but  there  are  no 
means  even  of  framing  a  reasonable  conjecture.  It  undoubtedly 
embraces  hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres,  and  much  more  is  in 
progress,  since,  important  and  indispensable  as  moisture  is  to 
vegetation,  nothing  can  be  more  prejudicial  than  a  superabun- 
dance of  water,  and  especially  stagnant  water.  Of  the  different 
modes  of  draining  I  shall  speak  hereafter  at  large.  It  is  a  sub- 
ject of  great  importance  and  utility,  and  requires  to  be  treated  in 
the  fullest  and  most  exact  manner.  The  next  great  improve- 
ment, that  I  have  witnessed  in  England,  is  in  the  fen-country  of 
Lincolnshire  and  Cambridgeshire,  where  vast  teiTitories,  embracing 
many  thousands  of  acres,  have  been,  it  may  almost  be  said, 
created,  that  is,  redeemed  from  the  sea,  fortified  by  strong  and 
extensive  embankments,  and  now  rendered  as  fertile  and  produc- 
tive as  any  lands  which  can  be  found  upon  the  island.  These 
lands,  likewise,  are  kept  drained  by  immense  steam  engines, 
which  move  with  an  untiring  power,  and  accomplish  this  mighty 
work  with  ease.  In  other  cases,  in  Lincolnshire,  another 
process  is  going  on,  here  denominated  warpmg,  by  which,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Humber,  immense  tracts  are  enclosed,  the  tide  shut 
in,  and  compelled  to  leave  its  rich  deposit,  thus  forming,  likewise, 
the  richest  meadows.  Still  another  process  is  in  progress,  by 
which  the  crooked  course  of  a  river  is  straightened,  its  channel 
deepened  by  its  own  new  current,  and  rendered  navigable,  and, 
by  the  erection  of  artificial  banks,  the  soil  within  them  continu- 
ally raised,  and  hundreds  of  acres,  where  so  recently  the  fish,  at 
high  water,  sported  with  impunity,  are  rescued  from  the  sea,  and 
covered  with  thriving  flocks  of  cattle  and  sheep.  In  Yorkshire, 
not  only  are  various  processes  of  redeeming  and  improving  land 
going  on,  but  the  curious  process  of  removing,  by  the  aid  of 
steam  machinery,  the  rich  deposit  from  the  bed  of  a  river,  whose 
current  has  been  diverted  from  its  natural  course ;  and  this  de- 
posit, after  being  taken  out,  is  laid,  at  not  an  inordinate  expense, 
on  a  peat  bog  hitherto  unproductive  and  worthless.  By  judi- 
cious management,  it  is  spread  on  the  land  to  the  depth  of  eight 
inches,  and  the  covering  proceeds  at  the  rate  of  five  acres  per 
day.  In  Nottinghamshire,  a  most  splendid  improvement  has  been 
effected  in  turning  the  course  of  a  small  river,  so  as  at  pleasure 
to  irrigate  several  hundred  acres  of  land,  which  were  formerly 
poor  and  comparatively  unproductive,  but  now  yield  the  most 
13* 


150  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

abundant  crops ;  and  in  Staffordshire ,  the  same  results  have  been 
reached,  not  by  a  river,  but  by  collecting  the  springs,  and  form- 
ing a  grand  reservoir,  from  which  the  water  is  carried  over 
extensive  fields,  which  are  thus  irrigated  at  pleasure. 

2.  Live  Stock  and  Vegetables.  —  The  next  great  feature  m 
the  improved  husbandry  of  England  is  apparent  in  its  live 
stock.  I  do  not  speak  of  it  as  seen  at  the  cattle-shows  of  the 
different  agricultural  societies  in  the  kingdom ;  for  here  the  ani- 
mals are  all  selected,  or  at  a  very  great  expense,  and  after  a  long 
time,  fitted  for  the  exhibition ;  but  I  speak  rather  of  them  as 
they  are  seen  in  Smithfield  market,  every  Monday,  and  at  the 
other  smaller  markets  and  fairs  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
Here  are  the  cattle  and  sheep  of  several  distinct  breeds,  and  all 
of  remarkable  excellence  of  their  kind  ;  I  do  not  say  perfect,  — for 
that,  in  almost  all  cases,  is  assuming  too  much, — but  leaving  very 
little  to  be  desired  beyond  what  has  been  attained.  Their  con- 
dition and  form,  their  symmetry,  their  fatness,  are  all  admirable  ; 
and  each  breed  is  seen  retaining  its  distinct  properties,  and, 
what  is  most  remarkable,  showing  how  much  can  be  done  by 
human  art  and  skill  in  improving  the  animal  form  and  condition, 
and  bringing  it  to  a  desired  model. 

From  Smithfield  market,  if  he  goes  to  Covent  Garden  market, 
in  the  infinite  profusion  and  variety  of  fruits,  and  vegetables,  and 
flowers,  which  are  always  to  be  found  here,  and  in  the  perfection 
to  which  they  are  carried,  and  many  of  the  finest  fruits,  in  defi- 
ance of  an  uncongenial  climate,  he  will  find  evidences  of  the  same 
admirable  skill  and  art  which  are  displayed  in  other  departments 
of  rural  industry. 

3.  Agricultural  Implements.  —  The  next  evidences  of  the 
improvement  of  the  agricultural  art  are  to  be  seen  in  the  extra- 
ordinary display  of  agricultural  implements  at  the  great  shows. 
The  exhibition  at  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society 
at  Derby,  in  July,  1843,  was  so  remarkable,  that  I  shall  be 
excused  for  giving  a  statement  of  the  number,  and  many  of  the 
kinds,  of  the  machines  and  implements  there  exhibited. 

Of  Tillage  Implements,  then,  there  were,  —  of  ploughs,  148  ; 
harrows,  31  ;  scarifiers,  25;  clod-crushers,  7;  rollers,  12;  couch 
rakes,  4. 


ACTUAL    IMPROVEMENTS    IN     ENGLISH    AGRICULTURE.  151 

Of  Drilling,  Soicing,  Manuring^  and  Hoeing  Machines. — 
Of  drills  and  bessers,  and  seed-sowing  barrows,  some  designed 
for  sowing  manure  with  the  seed,  there  were  61 ;  of  dibblers,  for 
putting  in  the  seed,  4 ;  of  horse-hoes,  adapted  to  the  cultivation 
of  drilled  crops,  20. 

Of  Harvesting  Machines.  —  For  hay-making,  4  ,♦  horse- 
rakes,  7. 

Of  Barn  Machinery.  —  Horse  engines,  locomotive  or  station- 
ary, 7 ;  steam  engines  for  threshing  or  grinding,  6 ;  threshing 
machines,  15 ;  winnowing  and  cleaning  machines,  20 ;  crashing 
and  splitting  mills,  36 ;  corn  and  meal  mills,  20 ;  chaff-cutters, 
51 ;  cake-crushers,  for  oil  cake,  14 ;  corn  weighers  and  meas- 
ures, 2. 

Field  J  Fold,  and  Yard  Machinery.  —  Of  turnip-cutters,  12  ; 
root-graters  and  cider  mill,  3 ;  potato- washers,  2 ;  steaming 
apparatus,  5 ;  feeding  apparatus  and  fodder  preservers,  various ; 
weighing  machines  for  carts,  cattle,  &c.,  4;  fire  and  garden 
engines,  11 ;  machines  for  stock  yard,  various ;  sundries,  ma- 
chines for  breaking  stones,  iron  field  gates,  hurdles,  trucks, 
fences,  <fcc.  &c.  &c. 

Agricultural  Carriages,  Harness,  and  Gear.  —  Wagons  and 
carts  for  market,  for  harvest,  for  manures,  (solid  and  liquid,)  for 
family  use,  &c.  &c.,  38 ;  breaks  for  carriages  of  all  kinds ;  sets 
of  wheels,  axles,  &c. ;  harnesses  and  horse-gear ;  drain  tiles,  and 
implements  for  forming  tiles,  9. 

Dairy  Implements.  —  Churns,  8 ;  cheese  presses,  6 ;  curd 
mills,  4 ;  miscellaneous  and  various  implements,  and  tools  and 
vessels  for  domestic  and  rural  purposes. 

It  cannot  be  expected  that  I  should  characterize  these  machines, 
and  point  out  their  various  properties ;  though  this  is  what  I  pro- 
pose to  do  hereafter,  in  respect  to  such  of  them  as  seem  to  me 
most  desirable  to  be  introduced  into  my  own  country ;  but  the 
number  and  variety  of  them  which  have  been  produced,  and  the 
neatness  and  care  with  which  they  are  made,  evince  great 
mechanical  skill  and  knowledge,  and  show  that  here,  as  well  as 
in  other  departments  of  industry,  the  mind  has  been  at  work,  and 
has  produced  the  natural  fruits  of  intense  and  well-directed 
application. 

4.  Application  of  Steam  to  Agriculture. — There  is,  indeed. 


152  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

one  giant  power,  of  comparatively  modern  invention,  which,  it  is 
thought,  has  not  been  as  successfully  or  extensively  applied  in 
agriculture  as  in  some  other  departments  of  the  arts.  Every  one 
knows,  at  once,  that  I  refer  to  the  power  of  steam,  which  seems, 
wherever  introduced,  to  defy  all  competition  ;  and  every  day's  ex- 
perience appears  to  demonstrate  that  its  extent  is  yet  hardly  con- 
ceived, and  its  application  only  begun.  The  experiments,  which 
have  been  made  in  the  application  of  steam  power  to  the  movement 
of  ploughs,  have  not,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  been  attended  with 
success.  It  will  not  be  safe  to  assert  that  this  cannot  be  done  to 
advantage  ;  but  certainly  that  is  not  the  only  application  of  steam 
to  the  purposes  of  agriculture,  which  is  to  be  looked  for. 
Indeed,  besides  the  impossibility  of  an  art,  so  intimately  associ- 
ated as  agriculture  is  with  almost  all  the  practical  arts  of  life, 
escaping  its  share  of  the  general  advantages  which  the  com- 
munity is  enjoying  from  this  mighty  agent,  it  has  already 
received  many  direct  contributions  from  it.  In  the  Lothians  of 
Scotland,  those  beautifully  cultivated  grain  districts,  which,  when 
seen  in  the  season  of  their  glory,  with  their  green  and  their 
golden  crops,  so  rich  and  delightful  as  to  make  the  heart  of  an 
enthusiastic  agriculturist  beat  as  though  he  himself  had  a  steam 
engine  under  his  waistcoat,  a  steam  engine  is  to  be  found  on 
every  principal  farm,  for  threshing  out  all  the  grain,  and  for  other 
economical  purposes,  to  which,  on  a  great  farm,  these  engines  are 
capable  of  being  applied.  The  average  size  of  these  engines  for 
threshing  is  from  a  six  to  an  eight  horse  power,  and  the  cost, 
which  was  formerly  more  than  £  120,  or  $  600,  is  now  greatly 
reduced. 

The  advantage  of  steam,  as  a  motive  power,  must  be  obvious. 
It  is  always  available,  at  all  seasons,  and  without  reference  to  the 
weather.  Its  movements  are  uniform,  whereas  horse  power  is, 
to  a  degree,  capricious  and  unsteady,  and  horses  often  suffer  a 
great  deal,  both  from  too  constant  and  long-continued  pulls,  and 
likewise  from  frequent  stops  and  starts.  The  steam  power  never 
tires,  and  its  operation  may  be  continued  to  any  length  of  time 
or  quantity.  These  are  all  great  advantages,  especially  when  a 
farmer,  from  any  sudden  advance,  wishes  to  bring  his  grain  at 
once  into  the  market.  It  is  obvious,  at  the  same  time,  what 
advantages  he  has  in  having  his  horses  saved  from  the  severe 
work  of  threshing,  and  fresh  for  other  farm  work.     The  saving  of 


ACTUAL    IMPROVEMENTS    IN    ENGLISH    AGRICULTURE.  153 

a  pair  of  horses,  on  a  farm,  is  estimated  at  £100  per  year,  (very 
much  more,  indeed,  than  it  would  be  with  us;)  and  intelligent 
farmers  assert  "  that,  with  steam  power,  they  save  one  fourth  of 
the  horse  power  on  large  farms." 

The  usual  quemtity  of  grain  threshed  by  a  six  horse  steam 
power  is  at  the  rate  of  from  thirty  to  forty  bushels  per  hour ; 
though  the  quantity  must  vary  with  the  condition  of  the  grain 
and  the  straw.  The  average  work  of  a  threshing  mill,  driven  by 
horse  power,  is  150  bushels  per  day,  and  by  steam  power  may 
be  reckoned  at  250  bushels  per  day,  which  is  certainly  a  great 
preponderance  in  favor  of  the  steam  power.  The  wear  and  de- 
terioration of  the  horses,  and  the  expenses  of  keeping  them,  are 
most  important  considerations  to  a  farmer.  Indeed,  so  far  as  my 
observation  goes,  there  is  no  single  source  of  expense,  none 
which  abstracts  so  much  from  the  profits  of  farming,  and  none 
of  which  the  farmers  in  general  are  so  little  aware,  as  that  of 
horse  teams. 

In  the  great  experiment,  or  rather  improvement,  going  on  at 
Hatfield  Chase,  in  Yorkshire,  of  emptying  the  deserted  bed  of  a 
river,  and  spreading  this  rich  alluvion  over  a  peat  bog,  the  earth 
carts  are  moved  on  a  temporary  railway  by  a  steam  engine,  and 
carried  to  their  place  of  deposit,  so  that,  as  I  have  before  re- 
marked, five  acres  can  be  covered  in  a  day,  eight  inches  deep ; 
and  that  which  it  would  be  perfectly  in  vain  for  any  inferior 
power  to  have  attempted,  is  accomplished  with  perfect  ease  by 
this  willing  but  mighty  agent.  The  fens  in  Lincolnshire,  where 
the  uncertain  and  capricious  power  of  the  wind  was  formerly 
depended  on,  and,  of  course,  with  little  confidence  and  uncertain 
results,  are  now  relieved,  at  pleasure,  of  their  surplus  water,  by 
two  steam  engines,  one  of  sixty  and  one  of  eighty  horse  power ; 
and  the  quantity  of  water  removed,  the  time  required,  and  the 
expense  incurred  for  doing  it,  are  all  matters  of  exact  calculation. 
The  workmanship  of  these  engines  —  fori  have  had  the  pleasure 
of  visiting  the  spot  —  is  extremely  beautiful ;  and  the  advantages 
of  the  whole  arrangement  can  hardly  be  overstated.  I  can  easily 
Relieve  that  the  same  machinery,  on  a  small  scale,  may  be  applied 
m  many  other  similar  cases ;  and  a  very  intelligent  and  spirited 
farmer  consulted  me  on  the  subject  of  his  determination  to  erect 
a  small  steam  engine,  at  his  own  expense,  for  the  purpose  of 
draining  a  part  of  his  own  premises.     At  the  show  at  Derby, 


164  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

there  was  exhibited  a  movable  steam  engine,  intended  to  be 
carried  to  a  farmer's  premises  as  it  might  be  wanted  for  furnish- 
ing a  threshing  power,  and  other  purposes.  I  have  not  yet  learnt 
how  it  succeeds  ;  but  if  success  is  not  attained  at  a  first  attempt, 
it  is  ultimately  certain.  These  machines  are  made  of  two,  four, 
and  six  horse  power.  The  cost  of  the  two  horse  power  is  £80, 
or  $  400,  and  a  three  horse  power,  £110.  This  does  not  include 
the  threshing  machine.  A  fixed  steam  power  must  have  many 
advantages  over  a  movable  steam  machine.  It  is  never  safe  to 
calculate  upon  doing  a  great  many  things  with  any  single  ma- 
chine. A  self-directing  machine  would  be  a  great  discovery  ; 
but,  short  of  man  himself,  we  can  hardly  look  for  that,  though  it 
seems  sometimes  to  be  nearly  approached.  A  great  difficulty,  in 
many  cases,  is,  that  the  machinery  must  be  trusted  to  the  hands  of 
the  stupid,  careless,  and  sometimes  malignant. 

Such  a  power  as  this,  on  a  large  farm,  may  be  applied  to  a 
great  many  uses  ;  and  its  advantages,  in  many  cases,  will  be 
incalculable.  The  turning  of  a  grindstone  for  sharpening  scythes 
and  axes,  on  a  large  farm,  would  save,  in  the  United  States,  a 
great  expense  of  labor  and  fatigue  ;  and  its  application  to  cut- 
ting roots,  and  chopping  long  fodder  for  stock,  to  breaking  and 
crushing  corn  and  oats,  and  to  grinding  grain  into  flour  for  the 
family,  as  well  as  for  cattle,  would  be  highly  useful,  especially  in 
those  parts  of  the  country  where  water  power  is  difiicult  to  be 
procured.  This  is  the  case  in  all  flat  countries,  and  particularly 
on  the  prairies  in  the  Western  States.  There,  in  many  cases, 
coal  abounds ;  and  there,  if  ever  it  may  be  expected,  where  miles 
almost  may  be  run  without  occasion  to  turn  the  plough,  steam 
may  be  applied  for  the  purposes  of  draft. 

Agriculture  owes,  also,  a  considerable  debt  to  steam,  for  the 
advantages  it  affords  in  the  construction  of  agricultural  imple- 
ments, in  respect  to  cheapness  and  uniformity.  In  cutting,  saw- 
ing, and  planing  wood,  in  grinding  and  fashioning  metals,  steam 
power  is  applied  to  great  advantage.  In  one,  if  not  more, 
extensive  establishment,  for  the  manufacture  of  agricultural 
implements  in  New  England,  steam  power  is  used,  so  as  greatly 
to  reduce  the  expensiveness  of  ploughs,  and  other  articles,  which 
are  here  made.  The  same  thing  is  done  in  England ;  and  this 
application  of  this  wonderful  power  is  every  day  extending  itself 
to  a  most  extraordinary  degree.     I  may  well  call  it  wonderful ; 


ACTUAL    IMPROVEMENTS    IN    ENGLISH    AGRICULTURE.  155 

for  who  could  have  dreamtj  on  first  seeing  a  tea-kettle  boiling 
over  the  fire,  that  there  were  the  simple  elements  of  a  power 
destined  to  exert  a  greater  influence  in  the  progress  of  the  arts  and 
sciences,  and  consequently  over  the  whole  condition  of  society, 
than  any  other  known ;  which  was  to  rend  rocks,  and  snap  iron 
asunder,  like  bands  of  straw  ,•  which  was  to  ride  securely  and 
triumphantly  over  the  mountain  waves  of  the  sea ;  which  was  to 
drain  floods  and  lakes,  and  lay  open  their  fertile  bottoms  to  the 
ploughshare ;  which  should  compel  the  deep  places  of  the  earth 
to  disgorge  their  mineral  treasures ;  and,  disdaining  time  and 
space,  plant  distant  countries,  for  all  the  practical  purposes  of 
commerce  and  friendship,  of  reciprocal  supply  and  mutual  im- 
provement, in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  each  other  ? 

This  brings  me  to  another  great  benefit  which  agriculture 
has  derived  from  steam  power,  which  I  should  do  injustice  to 
pass  over.  I  was  in  Smithfield  market  a  few  weeks  since,  and, 
in  conversation  with  a  very  intelligent  salesman,  —  whom,  let  me 
say  by  the  way,  I  shall  never  remember  but  with  a  grateful  sense 
of  his  kindness,  and  a  high  respect  for  his  character,*  —  he  said 
to  me,  ^'  We  have  the  contributions  of  seven  hundred  miles 
brought  to  market  to-day,  and  without  the  slightest  injury  to 
their  condition.  We  have  beasts  and  sheep  here  from  Suther- 
land, and  from  the  southern  counties  of  England ; "  and  I  be- 
lieve he  might  have  added,  from  Ireland  and  from  Belgium. 
Steam  vessels  and  railroad  cars  bring  them  at  once  to  the  great 
places  of  sale.  It  was  always  calculated,  by  the  drovers  of  cattle 
from  Connecticut  River  to  Brighton  market,  near  Boston,  —  an 

*  This  gentleman,  whose  business,  in  the  market,  is  of  the  most  extensive  and 
responsible  character,  presents  an  example  so  full  of  wholesome  instruction,  that  I 
hope  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  enlivening  my  Report  by  a  reference  to  it  lie 
spends  several  days  in  the  week  in  the  most  confused,  noisy,  and  busy  place  in 
the  world,  faithful  to  the  interests  of  his  employers,  and  retires  at  night,  a  feiv 
miles  from  the  city,  to  enjoy  his  cup  brimful  of  domestic  pleasures,  at  his  own 
fireside,  in  a  crowded  circle,  where  mutual  love  reigns  triumphant,  where  the  table 
is  covered  with  the  literary  gems  of  the  press,  and  the  walls  of  his  drawing-rooms 
are  adorned  witli  the  splendid  products  of  his  own  pencil,  displaying  taste  and 
skill.  So  true  it  is  that  men,  if  they  will  be  but  true  to  their  own  intellectual  and 
moral  natures,  need  not  be  utter  slaves  to  the  drudgery  of  business ;  and,  if  they 
will  only  look  for  them,  may  find,  at  the  most  moderate  expense,  within  their  own 
reach,  in  the  hours  of  recreation,  too  often  squandered  or  abused,  sources  of  the 
richest  and  most  elevated  pleasures. 


156 


EUROPE A.N    AGRICULTURE. 


average  distance  of  about  one  hundred  miles,  and  which  occu- 
pied a  week  in  its  performance,  —  that  a  beef  animal  so  driven  lost 
one  hundred  pounds  in  weight ;  and  then  he  usually  came  into 
market  foot-sore,  sunken,  in  a  state  of  fever,  and  looking  like  the 
victim  of  cruelty,  and  the  picture  of  misery  and  exhaustion. 
Where  steam  power  is  employed,  a  journey  of  excessive  fatigue 
and  labor,  which  formerly  occupied  seven  days,  scarcely  occupies 
now  as  many  hours,  and  the  animals  are  transported  without 
fatigue  or  labor,  or  loss  of  substance.* 

A  farmer  at  Ware  told  me  that  the  driving  of  a  fat  beast  to 
Smithfield,  about  twenty-six  miles,  occupied,  formerly,  two  days. 
The  animal  now  goes  by  railroad  in  two  hours,  at  a  cost,  I 
think,  of  not  more  than  2  s.,  and  comes  into  the  market  fresh 
and  sleek,  like  a  new  bonnet  from  the  band-box.  But  there  is 
another  animal  benefited  besides  the  quadruped  ;  and  that  is  the 
drover  himself,  who,  instead  of  spending  eight  or  ten  days  or 
more  upon  the  road,  at  a  great  expense  of  money,  and  not  a  little 
increased  hazard  of  morals  every  day  he  is  away  from  his  fam- 
ily, finds  his  business  now  accomplished,  and  his  money  received, 
and  himself  returned  to  his  home  in  three  days.  These  are 
considerations  of  immense  importance.! 


*  I  cannot  say  tliat  they  have  not  even  some  pleasure  in  the  transit.  This, 
perhaps,  might  be  very  well  ascertained  by  an  inquiry  of  the  passengers  in  the 
third  class  cars,  who,  through  the  extraordinary  disinterestedness  of  the  railroad 
directors  and  corporations,  are  conveyed  with  the  same  advantages  of  the  open 
air,  the  refreshing  showers,  and  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  rural  scenery,  and,  in 
general,  in  the  same  affectionate  aggregation,  and  in  precisely  the  same  circum- 
stances of  position  and  comfort,  in  which  the  cattle  are  transported. 

f  In  a  recent  debate  in  Parliament,  a  member,  otherwise  of  considerable  clever- 
ness, in  referring  to  the  practice  of  the  railroads  in  rendering  the  transits  of  second 
and  third  class  trains  less  frequent,  and  much  slower  than  first  class  trains,  was 
pleased  to  say  that  "  it  was  well  enough ;  for  the  time  of  the  poorer  classes  was 
not  of  much  consequence,  and  they  might  as  well  pass  it  in  the  cars  as  any  where 
else."  It  would  be  difficult  to  say  what,  to  any  one  but  himself,  is  the  vaAie  of  the 
time  of  a  man  who  could  make  so  heartless  an  assertion.  The  poor  man's  time 
and  labor  are  his  only  capital.  Enable  him  to  do  as  much  again  in  half  the  time 
employed,  and  you  quadruple  his  power  of  serving  the  community,  and  supporting 
himself  and  family.  As  for  the  rich  man,  who  made  this  declaration,  I  wish  him 
nothing  worse  than  to  travel  in  a  third  class  car  attached  to  a  slow  night  freight 
train,  so  that,  in  one  of  the  long  tunnels  between  Liverpool  and  London,  his  pleas- 
ant imaginations  might  be  rectified  by  sober  facts,  and  himself  have  time  for 
reflection  and  repentance. 


ACTUAL    IMPROVEMENTS    IN    ENGLISH     AdllCULTURE.  157 

It  will  not  doj  then,  to  say  that  steam  has  done  nothing  for 
agriculture  :  perhaps  no  department  of  industry  has  been  more 
essentially  benefited.  In  its  equalizing  the  value  of  landed  estate 
throughout  the  country,  it  has  conferred  immense  benefits.  A 
farm,  accessible  to  the  great  markets  by  steam  conveyance,  though 
two  hundred  miles  from  London,  is  now  of  equal  value  as  if  it  were 
within  twenty  miles.  The  farmer  near  London  may  complain 
of  this ;  but  it  is  proper  for  the  community  to  remember  how 
many  more  farms  are  at  a  distance  from,  than  how  many  are  near 
to,  London ;  and  how  little  the  interest  of  a  few  individuals  is  to 
be  brought  into  consideration,  compared  with  the  interest  of  a 
large  community,  who  are  to  have  the  advantages  of  the  ex- 
tended competition.  Singular  as  the  result  is,  however,  and 
contradictory  as  it  may  seem  to  all  theories  on  the  subject,  it 
does  not  appear,  in  fact,  that  any  parties  are  injured  by  the  facili- 
ties given  to  the  most  distant  to  reach  the  market.  In  respect  to 
ail  the  great  interests  of  society,  which  are  in  their  nature  fluctu- 
ating, or  at  all  dependent  on  external  circumstances,  so  many  and 
such  various  elements  are  intermingled  and  combined,  and  so 
many  new  conditions  present  themselves,  that  the  calcula- 
tions of  political  economists  are  constantly  at  fault ;  and  the 
results  are  deeply  humbling  to  the  pride  of  human  sagacity. 
Into  what  a  snarl  of  misery  and  confusion  would  every  thing  in 
this  world  be  thrown,  if  man's  providence  were  substituted  for  the 
divine  providence  !  and  so  it  constantly  proves  that,  just  in  pro- 
portion as  men  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  divine  arrange- 
ments, to  control  the  great  natural  laws  of  Heaven,  and  to  create 
a  perfectly  artificial  mechanism  for  the  government  of  society, 
they  find  their  plans  defeated ;  and  the  certain  result  is  any  thing 
but  unmixed  or  even  general  improvement.  I  remember,  a  few 
years  since,  it  was  confidently  said,  that,  when  the  great  Erie 
Canal  of  New  York  should  be  finished,  by  which  the  agricul- 
tural treasures  of  the  Great  West  should  find  an  easy  transmis- 
sion to  the  Atlantic,  farms  in  the  neighborhood  of  New  York 
city  would  become  comparatively  worthless.  Yet,  strange  to  say, 
they  have  much  increased  in  value,  and  are  now  certain  to  hold  their 
own.  The  vast  increase  of  population  throughout  the  country  ; 
the  great  increase  of  population  in  the  city  of  New  York,  occa- 
sioned, to  a  considerable  degree,  by  the  amount  of  business 
which  this  very  canal  has  produced  ;  the  multiplication  of  trades 
14 


158 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


of  every  variety,  and  the  influx  of  wealth  to  which  it  has  con- 
tributed ;  with  wealth,  the  increase  of  luxury,  and  the  demand  for 
fruits  and  vegetables,  —  articles  in  their  nature  perishable,  and 
demanding  a  rapid  and  certain  conveyance,  —  with  various  other 
circumstances,  have  conspired  to  keep  up  the  value  of  farms, 
and,  indeed,  to  increase  their  value  in  the  neighborhood  of  New 
York,  and  in  every  point  from  which,  by  these  improved  facili- 
ties of  conveyance,  this  great  mart  has  been  rendered  the  more 
accessible. 

The  poorest  markets  —  those  which  are  most  poorly  supplied  — 
are  in  general  those  where  the  prices  are  lowest.  Competition 
and  abundance  create,  and,  to  a  certain  degree,  quicken  demand  ; 
for  the  reason  that  they  bring  more  customers,  and  create  more 
wants.  Peaches  are  now  sent  by  steam  conveyances  from  New 
Jersey  to  Boston,  a  distance  of  nearly  three  hundred  miles ;  and 
strawberries  from  Providence,  nearly  two  hundred  miles,  to  New 
York.  What  has  been  the  effect  ?  To  lessen  price  in  a  very  small 
degree  in  any  case,  but  in  many  cases  not  "at  all ;  to  increase  the 
consumption  greatly ;  and  to  induce  the  farmers,  directly  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Boston,  to  go  themselves  into  the  cultivation 
of  peaches,  to  take  immense  pains  to  guard  against  the  evils  of 
an  uncongenial  climate,  and  to  cultivate,  as  far  as  possible,  fruits 
of  the  best  quality.  Some  trades  may  be  overdone  ;  they  may 
be  concerned  only  with  articles  not  of  necessity,  but  of  mere 
fancy,  and  subject  to  the  caprices  of  whim  and  fashion ;  but  in 
all  those  for  which  the  demand  is  necessarily  permanent,  and  in 
a  state  of  general  prosperity  in  a  country,  the  increased  demand, 
growing  out  of  an  increased  consumption,  will  be  always  likely 
to  afford  a  remunerating  price.  But  in  any  event,  whatever 
tends  to  the  improvement  of  the  general  condition  of  the  com- 
munity is  to  be  encouraged.  It  may  often  be  attended  with 
partial  loss  or  temporary  inconvenience ;  yet,  in  all  cases,  unless 
conscience  or  morals  are  involved,  individual  benefit  or  advan- 
tage should  yield  to  the  public  good.  The  farmer  near  a  large 
town  thinks  himself  injured  by  a  railroad  or  canal  which  brings 
the  farm  of  another  man,  a  hundred  miles  distant,  in  competition 
with  his  own.  Every  one  sees  that  the  great  public  is  to  be 
benefited  by  the  increased  supply  which  is  thus  produced.  Now, 
is  there  any  good  reason  why  the  distant  farmer  should  not  come 
to  the  market  by  any  facib'ty  which  he  may  create  or  obtain,  as 


ACTUAL    IMPROVEMENTS    IN    ENGLISH    AGRICULTURE.  159 

well  as  his  neighbor,  provided  he  does  not  hinder  that  neighbor 
from  coming  in  the  best  way  he  can  obtain,  any  more  than 
there  is  why  the  distant  farmer  should  be  compelled  to  come  on 
foot,  and  bring  his  load  upon  his  back,  instead  of  availing  him- 
self of  his  horse  or  his  carriage  ? 

5.  Increased  Production. — But  in  speaking  of  the  ad- 
vanced and  improved  state  of  English  agriculture,  there  are, 
perhaps,  stronger  evidences  of  its  progress  than  any  to  which 
I  have  referred,  in  the  increased  productiveness  of  the  fruits 
of  the  earth,  and  in  the  increased  population  which  are  sus- 
tained by  them. 

In  the  ten  years  from  1801  to  1810,  the  average  annual  import 
of  wheat  into  the  kingdom  was  such  as  to  allow,  if  divided 
among  17,442,911  souls,  —  the  population  of  the  kingdom  at  that 
time,  —  a  small  fraction  over  a  peck  for  the  annual  consumption  of 
each  person.  The  average  amount  imported  between  1811  and 
1820,  when  the  mean  number  of  the  population  had  advanced 
to  19,870,589,  would  have  allowed  each  person  not  quite  one 
gallon  and  a  half  for  the  yearly  consumption.  The  average 
amount  of  importation  for  the  five  years  from  1831  to  1835, 
when  the  mean  number  of  consumers  was  over  25,000,000, 
if  fairly  divided,  would  have  given  to  each  person  one  gallon 
of  wheat.  Taking  the  three  years  1833,  1834,  1835,  the  im- 
portation Avould  have  allowed  only  one  pint  and  one  fifth,  or 
about  fifteen  ounces,  of  fine  flour  to  each  consumer.''^ 

This  is  certainly  a  very  small  amount,  and  demonstrates  the 
immense  agricultural  resoiu'ces  of  the  country.  It  shows  as 
strongly  the  improvements  in  cultivation,  by  which,  under  a  fast- 
increasing  population,  the  dependence  on  a  foreign  supply  for 
bread  is  continually  growing  less.  This  can  only  arise  from  two 
causes,  the  bringing  more  land  into  cultivation,  and  a  more  im- 
proved cultivation.  Both  causes  have  probably  operated  to  a 
degree,  and  of  the  latter  the  evidences  are  every  where  numer- 
ous and  striking. 

I  was  asking  a  farmer  in  Berkshire  county,  England, — vener- 
able as  an  octogenarian, — whether  he  had  seen  any  great  im- 


*  See  an  admirable    work,   full  of   information  —  Porter's    Progress    of  the 
Nation,  Vol.  I.  p.  147. 


WQ  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

provements  in  agriculture ;  to  which,  in  spite  of  the  prejudices 
which  too  often  obscure  or  pervert  the  vision  at  so  advanced  a 
period  of  life,  he  replied,  with  perfect  candor,  "Immense  im- 
provements ;  we  knew  nothing ;  every  thing  is  now  better  done  ; 
the  crops  are  far  more  various  and  more  abundant ;  the  product 
of  wheat  has  almost  doubled ;  the  turnip  cultivation  has  been 
created ;  the  implements  are  far  better ;  the  live  stock  is  beyond 
all  comparison  better  ;  every  thing,  every  thing  is  better."  The 
good  old  man  had  lived,  like  Simeon,  in,  indeed,  a  far  hum- 
bler sense,  to  see  the  marked  and  strong  tokens  of  the  divine 
goodness  in  the  progressive  improvement  of  every  thing  around 
him  ;  and  he  proclaimed  it  with  the  glowing  enthusiasm  of 
youth,  and  showed  the  fire  still  burning  under  the  snow. 
Happy  old  age,  when,  instead  of  a  mind  soured  under  the  accu- 
mulated burdens  and  infirmities  of  advanced  years,  and  covered 
with  mossy  prejudices,  it  benevolently  acknowledges  good  wher- 
ever good  is  found ;  progress  wherever  progress  is  made  ;  and, 
instead  of  growling  at  the  degeneracy  of  the  present  times,  and 
sighing  over  the  fading  reminiscences  of  what  it  deems  the 
superiority  of  years  which  are  passed,  delights  in  the  actual 
improvements  of  the  present,  and  sees  in  them  the  foreshadow- 
ing of  far  greater  improvements  in  the  distant  prospect,  when 
the  advances  now  made,  great  as  they  may  actually  be,  and  still 
greater  as  they  seem  in  comparison  with  those  of  days  gone  by, 
will  be  found  to  be  only  the  first  lessons  of  childhood  !  There 
is  a  good  deal  of  this  spirit  or  temper  here,  called  by  the  gentle 
name,  in  England,  of  co7iservatism ;  but  this  man's  mind  was 
happily  free  from  it.  I  have  all  reasonable  respect  for  antiquity  ; 
but,  if  the  presumption  may  be  pardoned,  I  beg  leave  to  say, 
with  Lord  Bacon,  I  reckon  that  to  be  antiquity  which  is  farthest 
from  the  beginning.  The  present  times  are,  therefore,  more 
ancient  than  those  which  have  preceded  them,  and  are  to  be 
reverenced  as  imbodying  the  accumulated  wisdom  and  ex- 
perience of  past  ages.  This  spirit  of  improvement,  now  so  rife 
and  active,  is  the  foundation  of  all  intelligent  hopes  of  further 
progress ;  and  I  am  happy  in  saying  that  in  nothing  is  it  more 
obvious  than  in  agriculture. 

6.    Royal    Agricultural    Society.  —  In   this   progress    the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England  contributes  its  full  share- 


ACTUAL    IMPROVEMENTS    IN    ENGLISH     AGRICULTURE.  161 

This  was  established  about  1837,  and  embraces  a  large  array  of 
the  highest  rank  and  talent  in  the  kingdom,  and  a  vast  body  of 
farmers,  landlords,  and  others  interested  in  agricultm-e.  Its  funds 
are  large,  arising  from  donations  and  an  annual  subscription  of 
a  guinea  from  each  of  its  members ;  but  it  has  received  no 
endowment  from  the  government.  Its  objects  comprehend  every 
branch  of  husbandry  and  rural  economy.  It  has  a  central  office, 
or  building,  in  Hanover  Square,  London,  where  the  secretary  of 
the  society  resides,  and  where  the  council  of  the  society  and 
other  members  hold  weekly  and  monthly  meetings,  for  the  man- 
agement of  the  business  of  the  society,  and  the  discussion  of 
agricultural  subjects,  and  the  reception  of  agricultural  infor- 
mation. This  conduces  very  much  to  the  interest  felt  in  the 
projects  and  operations  of  the  society,  and  is  the  means  of 
diffusing  a  great  amount  of  valuable  information. 

It  has  begun  here  the  establishment  of  an  agricultural  library 
and  museum,  which  presently  must  assume  a  considerable  im- 
portance, and  become  curious  and  useful.  The  object  of  the 
library  is  to  collect  the  most  useful  and  valuable  publications  on 
subjects  connected  with  agriculture,  in  all  its  various  and  kindred 
branches,  including  likewise  geology,  botany,  agricultural  chem- 
istry, engineering,  and  manufacturing,  as  far  as  they  are  con- 
nected with  the  making  of  agricultural  implements,  and  the 
great  agricultural  operations  of  draining,  embanking,  irrigation,  and 
other  important  farming  processes.  The  object  of  its  museum  is  to 
exhibit  specimens  of  agricultural  productions,  which  are  capable 
of  preservation,  seeds,  plants,  grasses,  samples  of  wool,  mineral 
manures,  models  and  drawings  of  agricultural  implements,  and 
whatever,  in  any  way,  may  conduce  to  the  advancement  of  the 
science  or  practice  of  agriculture.  It  is  obvious  how  very  im- 
portant such  an  establishment  must  prove,  by  giving  practical 
men  an  opportunity  of  inspecting,  at  their  leisure,  the  most 
improved  subjects  of  cultivation,  the  best  grains,  and  the  best 
grasses  and  vegetables,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  best  tools  and 
machines,  with  which  to  cultivate  them.  I  have  often  urged  the 
establishment  of  agricultural  museums  upon  my  countrymen, 
especially  in  the  capitals  of  the  states  and  of  the  United  States ; 
where  the  members  of  the  different  legislatures  assemble.  Com- 
ing, as  they  do,  from  different  and  distant  parts  of  the  country, 
they  will  be  enabled  to  carry  home  information  of  the  utmost 
14* 


162  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

importance  to  the  farmers,  besides  having  their  own  knowledge 
advanced,  and  their  own  zeal  quickened  in  this  great  cause.  The 
commissioner  of  patents  in  Washington,  distinguished  by  his 
indefatigable  exertions  for  the  advancement  of  agriculture,  has 
already  laid  the  foundation  of  such  a  collection,  at  the  metropo- 
lis of  the  country,  and  in  connection  with  his  own  department, 
where  models  of  all  patented  agricultural  machinery  are  always 
to  be  seen.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  friends  of  an  improved 
agriculture  in  the  country  will  encourage  and  assist  him  in  ex- 
tending his  collection  of  valuable  grains  and  seeds.  There  are 
few  ways  so  little  expensive,  in  which  they  may  render  so  much 
service  to  the  country.  It  would  be  desirable  that  the  govern- 
ment should  enjoin  it  upon  the  commanders  of  all  their  ships  of 
war,  visiting  different  parts  of  the  globe,  that  they  should  collect 
and  bring  home  such  seeds  and  plants,  and  such  models  of  im- 
plements, as  would  be  likely  to  be  of  use.  That  universal  vege- 
table, the  potato,  furnishing  so  much  food  to  man  and  beast,  and 
scarcely  second  to  any  in  value,  considering  the  multitudes  whom 
it  supplies,  and  the  quantity  of  food  it  affords,  is  said  to  be  an 
importation  from  South  America.  The  cotton  plant,  a  source  of 
enormous  wealth  to  the  country,  is  likewise  esteemed  a  foreign 
plant. 

Besides  this,  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  issues  a  semi- 
yearly  publication  of  valuable  communications  and  papers,  both 
on  the  science  and  practice  of  agriculture,  which  fall  in  its  way, 
or  are  made  to  the  society  in  reply  to  queries  proposed  for  discus- 
sion and  for  information,  upon*  which  it  offers  premiums  of  a 
pecuniary  or  an  honorary  nature. 

The  society,  likewise,  at  some  place  in  the  country,  easily 
accessible,  hold  an  annual  show  or  exhibition  of  animals, 
implements,  and  agricultural  products,  upon  the  best  of  which  it 
awards  premiums.  This  occupies,  generally,  four  days.  Tues- 
day is  exclusively  assigned  to  the  several  committees  for  the 
inspection  of  subjects  of  premium,  in  the  way  of  implements 
and  agricultural  machinery,  when  no  persons  whatever,  except- 
ing the  committees  and  persons  necessarily  attendant  upon  therri, 
are  admitted  to  the  yard,  so  that  they  have  a  favorable  opportu- 
nity of  quiet  inspection,  uninterrupted  by  any  interested  or  curi- 
ous parties  ;  Wednesday  is  devoted,  in  the  same  way,  to  the 
examination  of  the  animals,  and  afterwards  the  yards  are  open 


ACTUAL    IIVIPROVEMENTS    IN    ENGLISH    AGRICULTURE.  163 

to  the  public  upon  payment  of  a  reasonable  entrance  fee  j  and  on 
Fridays  a  public  sale,  at  auction,  is  held  of  such  animals,  or  imple- 
ments, as  their  owners  are  willing  to  dispose  of  in  this  way.  The 
collection  of  people,  on  such  occasions,  from  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, and,  I  may  properly  add,  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  is  im- 
mense. Two  large  public  dinners  are  given  on  the  occasion  ; 
the  one  called  the  council  dinner,  on  Wednesday,  and  the  other, 
called  the  society^s  dinner,  on  Thursday,  when  provision  is  made 
for  fifteen  hundred  guests,  in  a  pavilion  erected  for  the  purpose. 
These  dinners  are,  in  general,  seasons  of  great  hilarity,  and  pro- 
motive of  sympathy  in  the  great  cause  of  agricultural  improve- 
ment. If  no  other  good  comes  of  them  to  agriculture,  they  serve 
at  least  the  purpose  of  consumption,  and  so  quicken  price  and 
demand. 

On  these  occasions,  the  prizes  are  announced  to  the  successful 
candidates  ;  and  these  premiums  are  given  either  in  medals,  plate, 
or  money,  and  are  received  with  no  small  degree  of  public  and 
self-congratulation. 

The  arrangements,  in  general,  are  made  with  great  care.  The 
animals  are  assorted  in  distinct  classes,  wath  separate  committees 
for  the  examination  of  each  class ;  and  the  implements  are  placed 
according  to  their  different  designs  and  uses.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  convey  an  accurate  or  adequate  impression  of  the 
number  and  variety  of  the  animals  offered,  in  such  cases,  for  exhi- 
bition and  premium.  I  have  already  given  a  list  and  the  number 
of  agricultural  implements  exhibited  the  last  year  at  the  Derby 
show ;  but  that  conveys  no  idea  of  the  ingenuity  and  skill 
evinced  in  their  construction.  One  is  led  to  conclude,  from  the 
inspection,  that  there  is  no  operation  or  function,  connected  with 
human  life  and  labor,  for  which  mechanical  labor  does  not  attempt, 
and  may  not  presently  succeed  in  furnishing  an  instrument  or 
machine.  In  many  cases,  a  machine  is  any  thing  but  a  facility  ; 
and  not  a  few  of  the  machines,  both  in  their  contrivance  and  the 
expensive  and  showy  manner  in  which  they  are  got  up,  evince 
pretty  strongly  the  gauge  which  the  contrivers  and  makers  have 
taken  of  the  understandings  and  pockets  of  the  probable  pur- 
chasers. They  are  seldom  at  a  loss  to  put  the  pail  under  a  full 
cow. 

In  many  respects,  the  arrangements  are  admirable,  and  well 


164  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

worthy  of  imitation.*  Every  possible  effort  is  made  to  secm^e  an 
impartial  decision  among  the  competitors  ;  for  besides  that  they 
are  not  suffered  by  their  presence  to  influence  the  examiners,  the 
examiners  themselves  are  selected  from  among  persons  who  are 
as  far  as  possible  disinterested,  and  not  likely  to  be  influenced. 
They  are  chosen,  likewise,  with  a  special  reference,  in  their  charac- 
ters and  qualifications,  to  the  nature  of  the  subjects  submitted ; 


*  The  terms  oit  which  the  premiums  for  seed  wheat  are  to  be  awarded  are 
well  worth  the  observation  of  other  agricultural  societies,  and  I  therefore  subjoin 
them. 

"SEED   WHEAT. 

"  I.  Thirty  Sovereigns,  or  a  Piece  of  Plate  of  that  value,  will  be  given  to  tlie 
Exhibiter  at  the  Meeting  at  Derby  of  the  best  14  bushels  of  White  Wheat,  of  the 
harvest  of  1842,  and  grown  by  himself. 

"II.  Thirty  Sovereigns,  or  a  Piece  of  Plate  of  that  value,  will  be  given  to  tlie 
Exhibiter  at  the  Meeting  at  Derby  of  the  best  14  bushels  of  Red  Wheat,  of  the 
harvest  of  1842,  and  grown  by  himself. 

"  III.  Twenty  Sovereigns,  or  a  Piece  of  Plate  of  that  value,  will  be  given  to  the 
Exhibiter  at  the  Meeting  at  Derby  of  the  best  14  bushels  of  Spring  Wheat,  of  the 
harvest  of  1842,  and  grown  by  himself. 

"  Competitors  are  requested  to  send  with  their  Wheat,  specimens,  fairly  taken, 
of  the  same  in  the  ear,  with  the  whole  of  the  Straw,  in  a  bundle  not  less  than 
one  foot  in  diameter,  and  with  the  roots  attached. 
"  [12  bushels  of  the  Wheat  will  be  sealed  up  by  the  Stewards,  and  one  of  the 
remaining  bushels  of  each  variety  will  be  exhibited  as  a  sample  to  the  public  ; 
the  other  being  kept  for  comparison  with  the  produce  of  the  next  year.  At 
the  General  Meeting,  in  December,  1844,  the  Prizes  will  be  awarded.] 
"  The  two  best  samples  of  each  of  these  three  classes  of  Wheat,  without  at  that  tmie 
distinguishing,  in  any  of  tiie  cases,  between  the  cojuparative  merits  of  either 
sample,  will  be  selected  by  the  Judges,  appointed  for  the  meeting  at  Derby ; 
and  will  be  sown,  under  the  direction  of  the  Society,  (the  Winter  Wheats  in 
the  autumn  of  1843,  and  the  Spring  Wheat  not  earlier  than  the  1st  of  March, 
1844,)  by  four  farmers,  who  will  make  their  report,  upon  which  the  prizes  will 
be  awarded,  provided  there  be  sufficient  merit  in  any  of  the  samples.  Ten 
Sovereigns  will  be  given  at  the  Meeting  at  Derby  to  each  Exhibiter  whose 
wheat  has  been  selected  for  trial. 

"  *^*  JYo  variety  of  wheat  which  has  been  selected  for  trial  at  any  previous  sJioio 
shall  be  qualified  to  compete." 

The  following  are  the  instructions  to  the  Judges  on  other  subjects :  — 

"  As  the  object  of  the  Society  in  giving  the  prizes  for  neat  cattle,  sheep,  and 
pigs,  is  to  promote  improvement  in  breeding  stoclc,  the  Judges,  in  making  their 
award,  are  instructed  not  to  take  into  their  consideration  the  present  value  to  the 
butcher  of  animals  exhibited,  but  to  decide  according  to  their  relative  merits  for 
the  purpose  of  breeding." 

"  In  the  Class  for  horses,  the  Judges,  in  awarding  the  prizes,  are  instructed,  in 
addition  to  symmetry,  to  take  activity  and  strength  into  their  consideration." 


ACTUAL    IMPROVEyEiN  rs     IN     KNMLtSH     AGRICULTURE.  165 

and  every  pains  is  taken  in  this  way  to  secure  the  greatest  apt- 
ness and  talents.  The  name  of  the  competitor  is  not  given  where 
it  can  be  avoided,  but  only  the  number  of  the  article  presented. 
The  rules  of  admission  and  competition  are  stringent  and  abso- 
lute, and  no  exceptions  are,  on  any  account,  allowed.  When,  last 
year,  a  competitor  attempted  to  introduce  a  machine  out  of  sea- 
son^ or  in  some  way  contrary  to  the  published  rules,  and  wrote  to 
one  of  the  agents  of  the  society,  that,  if  a  silver  key  should  be 
found  necessary  to  its  introduction,  he  begged  him  to  use  it,  — 
this  attempt  at  bribery  was  rejected  with  proper  indignation  by 
the  society,  and  the  individual  concerned,  though  eminent  as  a 
machinist  and  a  manufacturer,  and  offering  every  apology  for 
his  ^'  indiscretion,"  was  forever  irrevocably  excluded  as  a  com- 
petitor for  any  of  the  premiums  of  the  society. 

The  society  likewise  offers  premiums  for  essays,  which  are 
deemed  deserving  of  such  reward,  upon  any  given  subjects,  and 
for  reports  on  the  agricultural  condition  and  habits  of  different 
counties  and  districts.  This  has  been  the  means  of  bringing  out 
many  valuable  papers.  Here,  too,  the  decision  is  sought  to  be 
rendered  as  fair  as  possible ;  for  the  name  of  the  writer  is  not 
given  with  the  essay,  but  under  a  separate  and  sealed  envelope, 
which  is  not  opened  until  the  successful  essay  is  announced  ,•  and 
then  the  seal  is  broken,  and  the  writer's  name  declared,  in  the 
presence  of  the  society. 

The  society  likewise  has  a  consulting  chemist,  a  consulting 
engineer,  a  botanist,  and  a  professor  of  the  veterinary  art,  of 
whose  services,  in  any  desirable  case,  it  avails  itself  Some  time 
since,  it  numbered  on  its  lists  more  than  6500  members ;  and  has 
been,  since  that  time,  steadily  on  the  increase.  It  is  impossible 
to  overrate  the  advantages  which  such  a  society  brings  with  it  to 
the  agricultural  community ;  for,  though  it  enrols  among  its  mem- 
bers many  gentlemen,  who  are  mere  amateurs  in  the  profession, 
and  take  little  interest,  and  have  little  knowledge  of  its  practical 
details,  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it  combines,  among  the  highest  men 
in  the  kingdom,  a  very  large  amount  of  practical  talent  and  skill 
—  men  of  the  most  accurate  observation,  who  carefully  enter  into 
the  whole  subject.  There  is  another  great  and  good  influence, 
which  it  powerfully  exerts,  and  which  must  not  be  overlooked. 
It  gives  a  high  respectability  to  the  agricultural  profession,  and 
presents  it  as  a  pursuit,  not,  as  has  been  too  often  said,  for  mere 


166  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

dolts  and  clod-hoppers,  but  for  minds  of  the  highest  order,  and 
for  men  of  all  conditions,  from  the  prince  to  the  peasant ;  for  "  the 
king  himself  is  served  by  the  field."  The  prizes  are  contended 
for  with  an  ardor  little  short  of  that  which  displays  itself  in  the 
contests  of  political  life,  and  received  with  a  high  sense  of  their 
value.  I  have  seen,  at  the  tables  of  some  of  the  highest  noble- 
men in  the  land,  the  premiums  of  agricultural  success,  exhibited 
in  some  form  of  plate,  with  more  triumph  than  they  Avould  dis- 
play in  the  brilliant  badges  of  their  rank. 

7.  Agricultural  Society  of  Scotland.  —  The  Highland  and 
Agricultural  Society  of  Scotland  is  an  institution  of  a  similar 
description,  and  of  a  longer  standing,  than  the  Royal  Society  of 
England.  It  is  richly  endowed,  and  as  powerfully  patronized, 
and  has  long  rendered  itself  illustrious  by  its  Journal,  published 
quarterly,  in  Edinburgh.  This  Journal,  for  the  ability  with 
which  it  is  managed,  and  which  has  been  displayed  also  in  the 
prize  essays  of  the  Highland  Society,  which  are  always  published 
in  connection  with  the  Journal,  has  certainly  no  superior.  The 
Scotch  have  been  long  distinguished  for  their  acuteness  and 
excellent  management ;  and  the  evidences  of  the  justness  of  their 
pretensions  in  these  respects,  were  too  obvious  and  numerous,  on 
my  transient  visit  to  the  southern  portions  of  Scotland,  to  leave 
any  doubt  of  their  just  claims  to  the  highest  reputation. 
The  exhibition  of  the  society  at  Dundee,  the  last  autumn,  was,  in 
the  character  and  condition  of  its  animals,  in  no  respect,  in  my 
judgment,  inferior  to  that  at  Derby,  though  the  Scotch  cattle 
present  different  varieties  from  those  which  are  fashionable  and 
most  esteemed  in  England.  The  short  horns  and  the  Leicesters  of 
England  would  be,  as  a  stock,  very  poorly  adapted  to  the  bleak 
hills  and  cold  climate  of  Scotland ;  while  the  hardiness  and  thrift 
of  the  Scotch  cattle  and  sheep  show  how  well  suited  they  are 
to  the  homes  where  they  are  bred,  and  whence  they  are  sent,  in 
immense  droves,  in  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  to  the  southern 
portions  of  the  country.  The  general  management  of  the  Scotch 
Agricultural  Society  does  not  essentially  differ  from  that  of  the 
English  Royal  Agricultural  Society.  The  general  exhibition  at 
Dundee  passed  off  much  in  the  same  style  as  at  Derby,  except- 
ing that  I  thought  the  Scotch  drank  their  toasts  with  a  little 
more  heartiness  than  the  English  —  a  characteristic  of  the  country- 


RELATION  OF  LANDLORD  AND  TENANT.  167 

men  of  Burns.  This  is  not  the  place  for  me  to  describe  the  differ- 
ent breeds  of  stock  shown  at  either  place,  or  the  various  imple- 
ments exhibited.  This  I  propose  to  do  in  another  part  of  my 
Reports,  with  all  the  particularity  which  my  friends  can  desire. 
The  stock  shown  at  Dundee  would  bear  a  comparison  with  the  best 
stock  shown  any  where  ;  and  the  fact  is  too  well  known  to  need 
any  confirmation  of  mine,  that  in  point  of  intelligence  and  agri- 
cultural skill,  and  in  point  of  success,  —  the  best  test  of  intelli- 
gence and  skill,  —  the  Scotch  farmers  yield  the  palm  to  none. 


XX. —RELATION    OF    LANDLORD    AND    TENANT. 

The  holdings  of  many  of  the  Scotch  farmers  are  very  large  ; 
and  their  farms  are  generally  held  under  leases  of  nineteen  and 
twenty-one  yesirs.  One  would  be  led  to  infer  that  the  terms  on 
which  the  landlords  live  with  their  tenants,  in  Scotland,  must  be 
honorable  and  just  to  both  parties,  since  renewals  are  common : 
the  same  estates  have  been,  in  many  instances,  in  the  same  fam- 
ilies for  a  century,  and  the  expenses  incurred,  in  some  cases,  by 
tenants,  in  the  erection  of  permanent  buildings  and  other  fixtures, 
are  very  heavy ;  showing  the  confidence  of  the  tenant  in  his 
landlord.  One  farm  was  pointed  out  to  me  where  the  tenant  had 
recently  died,  leaving  only  one  child,  an  infant  son.  In  this  case, 
that  the  lease  might  be  retained  in  the  family,  three  of  the  neigh- 
boring farmers  had  agreed  to  take  the  whole  management  of  the 
estate  until  the  young  man  came  of  age.  In  such  cases,  there  is 
very  little  diflference  between  a  lease  and  a  freehold  in  fee-simple. 
I  carmot  say,  however,  that  the  tenant  is  raised  above  all  depend- 
ence on  his  landlord,  or  that  removals  do  not  sometimes  take 
place  under  circumstances  of  great  hardship.  In  one  case,  which 
came  under  my  knowledge,  a  farm  had  been  withdrawn,  or, 
rather,  the  renewal  of  the  lease  refused,  though  it  had  been  in 
the  occupation  of  the  same  family  for  many  years,  on  the  ground 
of  political  opposition  and  prejudice,  the  avowed  opinions  and 
votes  of  the  tenant  not  coinciding  with  those  of  the  landlord. 
It  is  easy  to  believe  that  this  may  often  happen,  though  any 


168  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

direct  influence  of  t'his  kind  would  be  likely  to  meet  the  repro- 
bation of  the  public.  In  one  case,  in  England,  to  my  inquiries 
whether  the  tenant  was  not  expected  to  vote  with  the  landlord, 
the  farmer  replied  that  his  own  politics  were  opposed  to  the  poli- 
tics of  his  landlord ;  and  that,  when  taking  his  lease,  to  his  great 
regret,  he  had  pledged  himself  to  remain  neutral,  and  withhold 
his  vote  —  a  course  by  which  many  overwise  and  prudent  people 
think  that  they  escape  the  responsibility  of  the  duty,  whereas,  in 
truth,  by  so  doing  they  virtually  give  a  vote  to  their  opponents. 
In  another  case,  the  reply  of  two  very  intelligent  and  substantial 
farmers  was,  that  they  were  at  liberty  to  vote  as  they  pleased ; 
but  it  was  almost  the  only  way  in  which  they  could  show  their 
respect  to,  and  evince  their  sense  of  the  kindness  of,  their  land- 
lord, and  they  felt  it  therefore  a  duty  of  gratitude  to  vote  with 
him.  We  are  not  beyond  this  influence  even  in  our  democratic 
communities.  The  voting  by  ballot  may  seem  to  give  a  perfect 
security ;  but  this  is  invaded  or  destroyed  when  the  candidates 
of  a  party  are  publicly  prescribed,  and  the  votes  given  are  in  a 
printed  form ;  so  difiicult  is  it,  under  any  circumstances,  to  main- 
tain a  perfect  freedom  and  independence,  and  in  practical  life  to 
realize  our  ideal  theories.  But  politics  are  not  my  province  ;  nor 
should  I  have  thus  far  ventured  upon  them,  but  as  connected 
with  the  important  relation  of  tenant  and  landlord,  in  which  I 
know  my  countrymen  feel  the  strong  interest  of  curiosity.  I 
shall,  perhaps,  excite  some  surprise  in  stating  my  belief  that  the 
manner  in  which  farms  are  held  here,  on  hire  for  a  year,  or  on 
lease  for  a  term  of  years,  rather  than  being  owned  by  the  occu- 
pants, is  itself  a  powerful  instrument  or  incentive  to  agricultural 
improvement.  In  the  United  States,  where  farms  are  owned  by 
the  occupant,  the  farmer  seldom  keeps  any  account,  and  it  matters 
not  much  to  him  what  is  the  result  of  the  year's  management. 
The  effect  of  this  is  to  render  a  man  negligent  and  indifferent  to 
success  or  loss.  But  when,  at  the  end  of  every  six  months,  the 
rent  must  be  paid,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  his 
farming  turns  out  well  or  ill ;  for  not  only  the  labor  employed  is 
to  be  paid  for,  but  the  rent  of  the  farm  must  be  punctually  dis- 
charged. This  consequently  compels  him  to  make  every  exertion 
by  which  he  may  be  assisted  to  meet  his  obligations.  He  finds 
no  room  for  idleness  or  neglect ;  and  the  continuance  of  his  pos- 
session depends  upon  his  good  management  and  the  punctual 


RELATION  OF  LANDLORD  AND  TENANT.  169 

payment  of  the  rent.  This  prompts  to  watchfulness,  skill,  ex- 
periment, and  improvement ;  and  especially  it  gives  to  farming  a 
commercial  or  mercantile  character,  and  obliges  the  farmer  to 
keep  accounts,  and  so  to  learn  the  exact  pecuniary  result  of  his 
operations  —  a  matter  in  which  the  farmers  of  the  United  States, 
as  far  as  my  observation  goes,  who  are  the  owners  of  the  farms 
which  they  occupy,  are  almost  universally  deficient.  The  strict 
responsibility  to  which  the  farmers  are  here  held  by  their  land- 
lords, is  undoubtedly  a  material  element  in  their  success.  At  the 
same  time,  where  the  occupation  is  from  year  to  year,  and  leases 
are  refused  on  the  part  of  the  landlords,  as  is  generally  the  case  in 
England,  — though  in  Scotland  leases  are  almost  universal,  —  the 
effect  must  be  to  prevent  or  discourage  substantial  improvements, 
as  few  persons  will  be  inclined  to  make  such  improvements  with 
an  uncertainty  of  continuance.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  which  may 
create  some  surprise,  that  many  farmers  are  unwilling  to  take 
leases  when  landlords  would  be  willing  to  grant  them.  But  this 
happens  only  when  there  is  a  perfect  confidence  on  both  sides ; 
the  tenant  has  entire  reliance  upon  the  honor  and  liberality  of  the 
landlord,  and  the  landlord  is  equally  confident  of  the  good  con- 
duct and  management  of  his  tenant.  An  excellent  landlord,  in 
Lincolnshire,  says  he  considers  himself  bound  to  continue  his  old 
tenants  and  their  children  in  possession,  in  preference  to  any 
other  tenant,  as  long  as  they  choose  to  remain,  unless  some 
extraordinary  contingency  presents  itself;  and  virtually  admits 
on  their  part  a  property  in  the  soil.  The  great  length  of  time 
during  which  families,  on  his  estates,  have  held  their  possessions 
from  father  to  son,  shows  that  he  acts  upon  the  most  liberal  prin- 
ciples ;  and  the  condition  of  his  tenants,  and  their  great  improve- 
ments, evince  that  his  honorable  conduct  secures  their  entire 
confidence.  It  cannot  be  doubted,  however,  that  the  uncertainty 
of  continuance,  the  absolute  power  of  discharge  on  the  part  of 
the  landlord,  the  risk  of  his  caprice,  and  the  possibility  of  a  new 
one  coming  in  possession,  ''  who  might  not  remember  Joseph,  but 
forget  him,"  must  have  some  effect  in  preventing  or  discouraging 
improvements. 

A  farm  which  is  well  managed  cannot  change  tenants  without 

great  inconvenience  and  evil  on  both  sides.     On  several  very  large 

estates,  which  I  have  visited,  the  occupancy  had  been  in  the  same 

families  for  a  large  portion  of  a  century,  and  there  seemed  not  the 

15 


170  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

slightest  apprehension  of  any  change  on  either  side.  A  good 
tenant  is  evidently  almost  as  important  to  his  landlord  as  his  con- 
tinuance on  the  estate  can  be  to  himself ;  and  where,  under  such 
circumstances,  substantial  and  permanent  improvements  are  to  be 
made,  the  landlord  himself  bears  a  portion  of  the  expense.  In 
draining,  for  example,  the  landlord  furnishes  the  tiles,  and  the 
farmer  makes  the  drains  and  lays  them.  A  skilful  and  intelligent 
farmer,  worth  having  as  a  tenant,  would  hardly  be  found  willing 
to  take  a  farm  for  a  year,  without  an  expectation  of  a  much 
longer  continuance,  and  certainly  would  not,  under  such  an  oc- 
cupation, attempt  any  improvements  but  at  the  risk  or  expense 
of  the  landlord.  In  Scotland,  where  leases  are,  in  general,  for 
nineteen  or  twenty-one  years,  if  the  farmer  has  seven  years  of 
unexpended  lease,  he  is  expected  to  pay  a  third  of  the  expense 
of  any  permanent  fixtures  or  improvements  ;  if  fourteen  years,  he 
is  expected  to  pay  two  thirds,  and  the  landlord  one ;  if  the  whole 
term,  the  whole  expenses  are  deemed  properly  chargeable  to  him. 
I  confess,  under  the  best  circumstances,  I  should  greatly  prefer 
being  an  owner  or  freeholder,  to  being  a  tenant.  There  is  an 
excessive  caution  which  characterizes  some  shrewd  calculators, 
who  consider  the  value  of  a  property  diminished,  where  the  lease 
is  limited  even  to  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years ;  but,  with- 
out any  sympathy  with  such  persons,  there  is,  at  least,  a  gratifica- 
tion to  a  man's  self-esteem,  to  feel  that  he  is  "the  monarch  of 
what  he  surveys,"  and  that  whatever  improvements  he  makes 
upon  his  estate  will  enure  to  the  lasting  benefit  of  himself  or  his 
heirs.  In  a  pecuniary  view,  however,  it  is  really  matter  of  in- 
difference whether  the  occupant  pays  a  reasonable  rent  for  the 
land  as  tenant,  or,  as  the  owner  of  it,  loses  the  interest  of  the  cap- 
ital invested  in  the  purchase  of  the  soil.  There  are  few  cases,  as  1 
have  before  observed,  where  the  rents  paid  equal  the  legal  interest 
of  the  money  which  the  lands  would  command,  if  offered  for  sale. 
Certainly,  as  far  as  my  observation  goes,  —  and  I  have  seen  some  - 
what  both  of  landlords  and  tenants,  —  there  prevails  a  disposition, 
and  there  are  the  strongest  inducements,  to  cultivate  a  mutually- 
good  understanding  between  the  parties.  There  is,  in  general, 
no  more  reason  to  fear  that  landlords  will  be  oppressive  and 
unjust,  than  that  tenants  will  be  wasteful,  negligent,  and  fraudu- 
lent. Power  is  always  a  hazardous  possession,  and  always  lia- 
ble to  abuse,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be  too  much  guarded  and 


RELATION  OF  LANDLORD  AND  TENANT.  171 

limited  in  every  condition  of  life.  The  abuses  of  power  are  not, 
however,  pecuhar  to  persons  occupying  a  high  condition  in 
society,  but  are  as  often  found  among  the  lowest,  who  seem  to 
have  nothing  else  but  the  ability  to  injure  and  exert  it  most 
cruelly  when  they  are  most  loudly  claiming  compassion  for 
themselves,  as  the  victims  of  injustice.  I  believe  there  is  a  great 
deal  more  abuse  of  power  on  the  part  of  farmers  towards  their 
laborers,  than  on  the  part  of  landlords  towards  their  tenants. 
The  farmers  can  protect  themselves ;  the  laborers,  in  general,  are 
without  power.  Indeed,  the  more  cultivated  and  improved  is 
the  education  of  a  man,  and  the  higher  the  condition  which  he 
occupies  in  society,  the  stronger  are  the  inducements  to  a  just  and 
honorable  conduct,  not  only  in  his  enlarged  mind,  but  in  the 
increased  value  of  character  to  such  a  man.  In  Ireland,  the 
middle-man,  who  comes  between  the  landlord  and  the  poor  ten- 
ants, who  there  are  themselves  laborers,  and  especially  those 
middle-men  who  are  themselves  subletters  of  the  soil,  are  always 
feared  for  their  severity  and  oppression.  How  far  a  man's  politi- 
cal independence  is  affected  by  his  relation  to  his  landlord,  is 
another  consideration.  A  man  living  under  such  a  constitution 
of  government  as  that  of  England,  unless  he  is  himself  an  office- 
seeker,  or  dependent  upon  the  emoluments  of  public  office,  will 
not  deem  this  of  so  much  importance  as  many  might  consider  it  ; 
and  if  he  makes  up  his  judgment  from  the  representation  which 
the  minority  in  a  republican  or  elective  government  always  give 
of  the  character  and  measures  of  the  majority,  he  may  be  led  to 
conclude  that  his  chance  of  being  protected  in  his  rights,  and 
secured  in  his  person  and  property,  is  as  good  under  an  hereditary 
government,  or  one  chosen  for  him  by  others,  as  under  one  in  the 
choice  of  which  he  himself,  with  others,  is  permitted  to  give  his 
suffrage.  I  would  not  be  thought  to  undervalue  political  liberty  ; 
and,  in  my  opinion,  human  wisdom  has  never  devised  a  constitu- 
tion of  government  so  just  and  so  favorable  to  the  happiness  of 
its  subjects  as  that  of  my  own  country.  But  I  have  been  too 
often  in  the  minority  not  to  have  learned  that  a  majority  com- 
posed of  thousands  may  be  as  despotic  as  a  single  tyrant ;  and  I 
am  not  unaware  that  the  position  occupied  by  the  governments 
of  all  civilized  countries,  is,  at  the  present  day,  very  different 
from  v/hat  it  was  a  century  ago.  As  the  reformation,  under 
Luther,  gave  a  blow  to  the  doctrine  of  the  infallibility  of  the 


1T2 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


church,  from  which  it  can  never  recover,  so  the  successful  asser- 
tion of  the  right  of  revolution  against  oppression,  in  1776,  read  a 
lesson  to  all  arbitrary  governments,  which  is  not  likely  soon  to 
be  forgotten.  Under  any  form  of  government,  the  great  security 
for  the  subject  is,  that  they  who  govern  shall  be  equally  affected 
by  their  own  measures  as  they  Avho  are  governed ;  and  in 
countries  so  free  and  enlightened  as  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States,  whoever  may  rule,  no  measures  of  extreme  injustice  or 
wrong  are  likely  to  be  long  endured.  There  is  a  force  in  public 
opinion  which  can  scarcely  be  resisted,  and  which  is  more  power- 
ful than  any  mere  legal  enactments.  What  is  mainly  to  be  desired 
is,  that  education  should  be  so  general  in  its  extension,  and  so 
elevated  and  just  in  its  character,  that  public  opinion  may  be 
wisely  formed,  and  be  not  only  a  commanding,  but  a  safe  and 
worthy  guide. 

The  form  or  conditions  of  lease,  in  England,  somewhat  differ 
in  different  places ;  but  the  main  terms  are  every  where  the  same. 
Leases,  generally,  are  drawn  up  in  an  exact  form,  and  become 
sealed  and  legal  instruments.  The  farm  is  entered  upon  in  the 
spring,  and  the  rent  is  made  payable  semi-annually.  The  mode 
of  cultivation  is  generally  prescribed  by  the  landlord,  from  which 
the  tenant  is  not  at  liberty  to  depart.  Two  white  crops  are  seldom 
permitted  to  succeed  each  other  without  intervention  upon  the 
same  land.  The  green  produce  is  required  to  be  fed  upon  the 
place ;  and  if  hay  or  straw  is  sold,  an  equivalent  quantity  of  ma- 
nure is  required  to  be  brought  on.  All  substantial  improvements 
are  the  subject  of  special  agreement ;  and  the  tenant  is  never 
allowed  to  cut  down  any  tree  or  timber  upon  the  place,  or  other- 
wise to  commit  any  waste.  Where  a  farm  is  to  be  quit,  or  entered 
upon  by  a  new  tenant,  the  going-out  tenant  is  at  liberty  to  come 
in  to  gather  the  crops  which  he  himself  has  sown. 

There  is  a  class  of  men,  in  England,  of  which  we  know  nothing 
in  the  United  States ;  these  are  called  land  surveyors  or  valuers. 
These  are  generally  persons  of  experience  and  judgment,  who 
exami^ie  the  condition  of  the  place,  and  estimate  what  would  be 
a  fair  rent  to  be  paid ;  and  by  their  opinion  the  parties  are  usually 
governed.  Such  a  person  is  often  employed  to  estimate  the  value 
of  growing  crops,  where  an  allowance  is  to  be  made  by  the  in- 
coming to  the  out-going  tenant.  This  professional  man,  if  well 
qualified  for  his  office,  may  be  highly  useful ;  and  such  a  course 


GABIE    AND    THE    GAME    LAWS.  173 

is  likely  to  render  the  transaction  more  just  than  where  it  partakes 
more  of  an  accidental  or  arbitrary  character,  where  one  party  may 
be  led  by  his  caprice  to  demand  too  much,  or  be  betrayed  by  his 
ignorance  to  obtain  too  little  ;  or  the  other  party  may  be  driven  by 
his  necessities,  or  led  by  a  mistaken  judgment  of  the  capacities  of 
the  farm,  to  take  it  upon  very  hard  terms.  The  taxes  and  tithes 
are  usually  paid  by  the  tenant ;  but  their  amount  is  always  con- 
sidered in  determining  the  rent,  so  that,  properly  speaking,  they 
are  paid  by  the  landlord,  and  not  by  the  tenant.  The  leasing  of 
farms,  in  the  United  States,  is  quite  rare,  and  but  in  few  cases  is 
it  arranged  by  any  established  rule.  In  New  England,  in  such 
cases,  matters  are  conducted  most  loosely.  Farms  are  frequently 
"  taken  to  the  halves,"  which  is  understood  to  imply  that  the 
farmer  returns  half  of  all  the  produce  grown  to  the  owner ;  but 
the  landlord  is  almost  entirely  in  the  power  of  the  farmer ;  and, 
after  the  farmer  has,  as  is  but  too  common,  applied  to  his  own 
use  about  half  the  produce,  he  divides  with  the  owner  the  half 
which  remains.  If  the  owner  furnishes  implements,  the  farmer 
returns  them  as  good  as  he  received  them ;  and,  if  he  furnishes 
stock,  as  on  a  breeding  or  a  dairy  farm,  the  tenant  pays  the  legal 
interest  upon  the  cost,  makes  good  the  stock  received  when  he 
quits  the  farm,  which  is  generally  settled  by  valuers  or  appraisers, 
and  divides  with  his  landlord  one  half  the  increase.  Our  prac- 
tices, in  this  matter,  are  various  and  unsettled ;  and,  as  long  bs 
the  hiring  of  farms  continues  with  us  to  be  so  infrequent,  — and 
it  is  likely  to  continue  so  while  land  remains  as  easy  to  be  pur- 
chased as  it  now  is, — no  exact  method  will  be  introduced. 


XXL  — GAME  AND  THE  GAME  LAWS. 

The  farmers  in  the  United  States  are  happily  free  from  one  evil 
which  presses  heavily  upon  the  English  farmers ;  and  that  is,  the 
nuisance  of  what  is  here  called  game,  and  the  curse  of  the  game 
laws.  Pheasants,  partridges,  grouse,  hares,  and  rabbits,  are  here 
called  game,  and  are  protected,  by  the  most  severe  laws,  for  the 
benefit  of  sportsmen  who  either  own  or  lease  the  territory  on 
15* 


174  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

which  they  find  them,  and  pay  a  tax  to  the  government  for  the 
privilege  of  shooting  or  coursing.  The  hares  and  rabbits  are  ex- 
tremely destructive  to  the  farmers'  crops,  and  the  complaints  of 
them  are  universal.  It  is  considered  that  five  hares,  or  seven 
rabbits,  consume  as  much  as  one  sheep,  besides  a  considerable 
amount  of  incidental  damage;  and  it  is  stated  that  there  were 
sold,  from  one  farm,  in  one  year,  for  the  benefit  of  the  landlord, 
no  less  than  two  thousand  hares  and  rabbits,  which  was  a  tax 
upon  the  farmer  equal  to  the  support  of  three  hundred  sheep. 
They  do  great  damage  to  much  of  the  produce  which  they  do 
not  consume,  in  biting  the  turnips  and  in  trampling  down  the 
grain.  A  farmer  is  liable  to  imprisonment  or  transportation  if  he 
destroys  them,  even  when  committing  havoc  upon  his  crops.  An 
allowance  is  undoubtedly  made,  in  some  cases,  though  not  in  all, 
for  these  depredations  and  injuries.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that, 
in  most  cases,  an  equivalent  can  hardly  be  made,  not  for  the  loss 
merely,  but  the  immeasurable  vexation,  which  they  occasion.  I 
entirely  accord  in  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  farmers,  whom 
I  have  met  with,  that,  with  the  exception  of  feathered  game,  the 
game  laws  inflict  a  most  serious  injury  upon  the  agricultural 
interest..  Of  their  moral  tendency  this  is  not  the  place  for  me  to 
speak;  but  the  innumerable  convictions  for  poaching — that  is, 
entrapping  or  stealing  game  —  with  which  the  judicial  calendars 
are  filled,  —  and  some  trials  for  which  charges  I  have  attended,  — 
and  the  several  murders  of  gamekeepers  which  have  occurred  even 
within  the  last  year,  present  a  subject  of  serious  consideration  for 
those  who  know  that  one  great  preventive  of  crime  is  to  remove 
the  facilities  and  inducements  to  it,  and  that  whoever,  voluntarily, 
and  without  necessity,  presents  a  temptation  to  crime,  necessarily 
shares  in  its  responsibility.  It  is  a  subject  which  never  can  be 
too  strongly  urged  upon  just  and  reflecting  minds,  how  much  the 
manners  and  pleasures  of  the  upper,  the  educated,  and  the  influ- 
ential classes,  affect  the  morals  of  those  beneath  them.  They 
inflict,  oftentimes,  an  infinitely  'deeper  injury  than  any  injury  to 
property  can  be.  In  the  United  States,  though  there  are  laws  to 
protect  from  extinction  races  of  birds  and  of  fish,  there  are  none 
which  confer  any  exclusive  privileges  for  the  capture  or  destruc- 
tion of  that  which  Heaven  has  made  as  free  as  water  and  air, 
though  any  man  would  be  liable  to  a  penalty  if  he  injured  his 
neighbor  in  pursuing  it. 


THE  ROYAL  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY  OF  IRELAND.      175 


XXII. —  THE    ROYAL    AGRICULTUPvAL    SOCIETY    OF 
IRELAND. 

The  Royal  Irish  Agricultural  Society,  for  the  general  improve- 
ment of  agriculture  in  Ireland,  is  of  more  recent  origin  than  the 
English  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  and  is  established  upon  the 
same  general  plan.  It  already  embraces  a  large  array  of  num- 
bers, combining  men  of  the  highest  rank  and  wealth  with  others 
in  more  humble  condition.  It  is  intended  to  hold  its  annual 
shows  in  different  parts  of  the  country ;  and  it  bestows  large 
sums  in  premiums,  —  thirty  sovereigns,  or  one  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars,  being  the  prize,  for  example,  in  the  class  of  bulls,  and 
other  prizes  of  proportionate  value  for  other  objects.  It  has 
adopted  one  very  wise  provision :  in  the  high  prizes  for  the  best 
live  stock,  it  opens  the  competition  to  the  whole  kingdom,  with- 
out restriction,  so  that  specimens  are  brought  from  England  and 
Scotland,  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  swine  ;  and  thus  the  Irish  are 
enabled  to  see,  and  compare  with  them,  what  has  been  done  by 
others,  and  in  what  respects  they  exceed  or  fall  short  of  them. 
This  presents  the  most  powerful  stimulus  to  excel ;  whereas,  if 
the  competition  were  confined  wholly  to  themselves,  not  know- 
ing what  has  been  done  by  others,  they  might  be  satisfied  with 
inferior  attainments.  At  the  agricultural  show  at  Dublin,  which 
I  had  the  pleasure  to  attend,  a  good  many  animals  were  exhibited 
from  Scotland  and  England,  which  were  of  a  superior  character, 
and  which  gave  the  Irish  farmers  a  favorable  opportunity,  not 
only  of  seeing  the  favorite  kinds  in  the  sister  kingdoms,  but  the 
degree  of  perfection,  to  which,  by  careful  breeding  and  keeping, 
they  had  been  carried. 

When  I  have  recommended,  as  I  have  repeatedly  done,  the 
adoption  of  the  same  liberal  practice  among  the  county  societies 
of  Massachusetts,  and  with  other  societies  in  New  York,  I  have 
always  been  met  with  the  argument,  that  this  would  be  sending 
the  money  paid  in  premiums  out  of  the  county,  or  out  of  the  state, 
which  is  an  objection  unworthy  of  consideration ;  for  of  what 
consequence  is  the  money,  if  Ave  can  get  the  improvement  ? 
The  object  of  a  society,  in  all  its  measures  and  premiums,  should 
be  the  improvement  of  agriculture  and  husbandry.     The  distri- 


im 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


bution  of  money  is  only  an  instrument  to  effect  this  end.  By 
what  means  that  object  is  most  surely  to  be  attained,  is  the  only 
matter  worth  inquiry.  Nothing  is  so  likely  to  serve  this  end  as 
seeing  and  ascertaining  the  degree  of  improvement  to  which  the 
art  has  any  where,  at  any  time,  or  by  any  persons,  been  ad- 
vanced ;  and  how  far,  and  how  effectually,  in  our  condition,  we 
may  adopt  the  same  means  of  progress.  There  is,  in  my  opin- 
ion, nothing  less  worthy  of  a  liberal  mind,  nor  less  friendly  to 
advancement  in  any  thing  valuable  and  useful,  than  a  miserable 
self-conceit,  which  passes  often  under  the  name  of  patriotism, 
but  which  is  a  spurious  metal,  and  a  mere  counterfeit  of  that  noble 
virtue.  To  value  a  thing  because  it  is  American,  or  because  it 
is  English,  or  because  it  is  Irish,  without  regard  to  its  substantial 
qualities,  is  worthy  only  of  a  child ;  and  a  mind  bent  upon  im- 
provement, and  capable  of  any  great  progress,  rises  above  such 
mean  prejudices ;  values  things  according  to  their  intrinsic  merit  : 
acknowledges  excellence  wherever  excellence  exists,  and  seeks 
that  which  is  good,  wherever  good  is  to  be  found.  We  should 
dismiss  all  pride  in  our  own  improvements  when  others  have 
gone  beyond  us.  The  advances  which  others  have  made,  be 
they  who  they  may,  should  only  be  with  us  an  incentive  to 
new  exertions  ;  and  so  far  from  indulging  the  slightest  regret  that 
they  have  surpassed  us,  if  we  discover  that  to  be  the  fact,  let  us 
rejoice  in  what  has  been  accomplished,  and  regard  all  improve- 
ments, of  every  description,  as  so  much  gained  for  science  or  for 
art,  for  general  comfort  or  advancement,  and  as  the  common 
property  of  human  nature  and  the  world.  This  is  the  truest  and 
noblest  patriotism,  which  heartily  exults  in  every  good  conferred 
upon  its  own  community,  or  its  own  country,  and,  in  the  spirit  of 
an  enlarged  philanthropy,  seeks  for  its  universal  extension.  To 
a  good  mind,  the  good  is  not  diminished  by  being  the  more 
widely  diffused. 

No  benevolent  and  just  man  can  look  upon  poor,  suffering  Ire- 
land, a  land  full  of  brilliant  minds  and  generous  hearts,  and 
whose  eventful  history  is  resplendent  with  a  galaxy  of  the  most 
noble  sacrifices  and  services  of  patriotism  and  philanthropy, 
without  rejoicing  in  any  good  which  comes  to  her,  or  offers 
itself  in  prospect.  Her  Agricultural  Society  promises  to  prove  of 
the  highest  benefit  to  a  country,  the  soil  of  which  is  capable  of  a 
most  productive  cultivation,  where  labor  presents  itself  in  unlim- 


THE    ROYAL    AGRICULTURAL    SOCIETY    OF    IRELAND.  177 

ited  abundance,  and  where  crowds,  almost  without  number,  of 
the  wretched,  the  half-clothed,  and  the  hungry,  demand,  m  tones 
which  would  touch  any  heart  not  made  of  stone,  an  opportmiity 
of  satisfying  their  own  wants  by  their  own  labor,  and  of  obtain- 
ing from  the  willing  earth  that  which  a  beneficent  Providence 
has  formed  it  to  yield  for  the  subsistence  and  comfort  of  his 
creatures. 

The  exhibition  at  Dublin  was,  in  various  respects,  creditable 
to  the  society.  The  collection  of  grasses  and  grains,  dried  speci- 
mens of  which  were  exhibited  by  several  nursery-men,  were 
extremely  beautiful,  and  highly  instructive  to  the  farmers.  They 
were  presented  in  a  form  which  enabled  them  to  compare  with 
each  other,  and  in  som.e  measure  to  determine,  their  relative 
qualities.  Numerous  specimens  of  flax,  and  of  linen,  and 
lawn  which  has  been  long  a  distinguished  product  of  Ireland, 
likewise  attracted  deserved  admiration.  Specimens  of  soils,  and 
mineral  and  artificial  manures,  and  exemplifications  of  different 
modes  of  draining,  and  models  of  cottages  and  farm  buildings,  were 
also  exhibited,  and  suggested  improved  and  economical  modes  of 
construction.  I  saw,  likewise,  an  American  straw-cutting  ma- 
chine, very  slightly  varied  from  the  original,  and  which  had  been 
patented  in  Ireland,  of  which  I  could  not  complain,  after  many 
instances  of  similar  plagiarism,  which  I  had  seen,  in  my  own 
country,  exhibited  as  rare  specimens  of  Yankee  ingenuity.  Of 
the  morality  of  such  tricks,  if  so  they  are  to  be  called,  I  leave 
my  readers  to  judge  ;  but  in  other  respects,  from  various  things 
which  have  come  under  my  notice,  the  account  seems  pretty 
fairly  balanced  between  us. 

The  exhibition  of  poultry  attracted  much  attention,  and, 
though  an  humble  object,  was  not  unworthy  of  observation.  It 
was  principally  confined  to  geese,  ducks,  and  dunghill  fowls. 
The  Malay  and  Java  fowls,  specimens  of  which  are  to  be  found 
in  the  United  States,  were  very  large,  and  appeared  almost  to 
have  some  affinity  with  the  ostrich  family.  It  was  stated  that, 
when  dressed,  they  would  weigh  from  eight  to  ten  pounds,  which 
is  the  size  of  a  conmion  turkey.  The  valuable  race  of  Dorkings 
was  shown  in  great  numbers,  as  being  highly  approved ;  and 
likewise  some  crested  Spanish  birds,  which  were  reputed  most 
abundant  layers  —  a  property  which,  in  my  opinion,  depends 
as  much  upon  plenty  of  feed,  and  houses  where  a  mild  tempera- 


tto  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

ture  is  preserved,  as  upon  any  peculiarity  of  constitution.  Of 
game-cocks  I  saw  none.  The  inhuman  sport,  which  once 
brought  these  animals 'into  fashion,  is,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  now 
not  permitted  nor  known.  The  cause  of  humanity  has  certainly 
accomplished  much  in  the  abolition  of  the  cruel  games  of  cock- 
fighting,  dog-fighting,  bull-baiting,  and  bloody  boxing-matches. 
The  various  military  dresses,  most  brilliant  and  magnificent  as 
they  were  in  themselves,  and  which  were  seen  plentifully 
sprinkled  about  the  show-yard,  and  in  the  streets  of  Dublin,  indi- 
cated, however,  that  there  were  other  game-cocks  in  training,  for 
purposes  far  more  cruel  and  unchristian,  whom,  with  their  glitter- 
ing swords  and  bristling  bayonets,  I  seldom  pass  without  a 
shudder :  and  to  the  necessity,  if  there  be  any,  of  whose  profes- 
sion and  employment,  I  can  only  desire  as  speedy  and  as  effec- 
tual an  end  may  be  put.  The  fights  of  the  lower  orders  of 
animals,  for  which  they  have  been  trained,  and  to  which  they 
have  been  spurred  on  by  the  brutality  of  a  higher  order  of  ani- 
mals, assuming  to  be  rational  and  moral,  are,  alas !  but  a  melan- 
choly counterpart  of  scenes  which  have  covered  human  history 
all  over  with  blood,  and  stained  its  pages  with  crimes  of  a  demo- 
niacal malignity  and  revenge,  vulgarly,  and  by  a  misnomer  which, 
in  a  Christian  country,  makes  one's  heart  ache,  called  heroism 
and  glory.  The  native  race  of  cows,  principally  from  the  county 
of  Kerry,  which  were  exhibited  on  the  occasion,  was  quite  re- 
markable. They  are  much  smaller  than  any  thing  of  the  kind 
which  I  have  ever  seen,  and  can  have  little  value  out  of  the 
country  where  they  are  reared,  and  to  whose  scanty  pastures  and 
bleak  hills  they  are  said  to  be  peculiarly  adapted.  They  are 
generally  black,  kept  at  a  very  small  expense,  and  are  said,  for 
their  size,  to  yield  an  extraordinary  amount  of  milk.  A  bull  of 
a  year  old  of  this  stock,  to  which  a  prize  of  five  sovereigns  was 
awarded,  was  so  diminutive,  that  1  could,  without  difficulty,  have 
lifted  my  leg  over  his  back.  The  sight  of  this  animal  solved  a 
problem  in  history  which  has  always  puzzled  me.  It  is  said  of 
Milo,  that,  beginning  with  a  calf,  and  carrying  him  upon  his 
back  every  day,  the  increase  of  weight  was  so  gradual,  that  the 
limit  of  his  personal  strength  could  not  be  determined,  and  he 
continued  to  lift  him  after  he  became  an  ox.  If  it  were  a  Kerry 
ox,  the  otherwise  intrinsic  improbability  of  the  story  entirely 
ceases.     This  Kerry  bull  was  little  larger  than  a  goat,  and  should 


MODEL  FARM  AND  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOL.         179 

form  a  part  of  the  retinue  of  Tom  Thumb,  that  distinguished 
American  production,  who  has  excited  the  most  extraordinary 
sensation  in  England. 


XXIII. —  MODEL    FARM    AND    AGRICULTURAL     SCHOOL. 

There  is  an  establishment  connected  with  the  agriculture  of 
Ireland,  which  is  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Dublin,  and 
which  I  have  visited  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  and  that  is  a 
Model  Farm  and  an  Agricultural  School.  The  national  govern- 
ment have  determined  to  appropriate  seventy-five  thousand 
pounds  annually  to  the  cause  of  education  in  Ireland,  to  be  dis- 
tributed, in  proportions  corresponding  to  the  subscriptions  of 
mdividuals  for  the  same  objects,  in  parts  of  the  country  where 
education  is  most  needed.  It  is  considered,  and  with  good  reason, 
that  the  great  want,  among  the  people,  is  a  want  of  knowledge 
in  applying  and  using  the  means  of  subsistence  within  their 
reach ;  that  there  is  no  indisposition  on  their  part  to  labor ;  that 
there  is  as  yet  an  ample  extent  of  uncultivated  land  capable  of 
being  redeemed  and  rendered  productive ;  and  that  a -principal 
source  of  the  wretchedness,  and  want,  and  starvation,  which  pre- 
vail in  some  parts  of  this  country,  often  to  a  fearful  extent,  is 
attributable  to  the  gross  ignorance  of  the  laboring  classes  of  the 
best  modes  of  agriculture  and  of  rural  economy.  With  this  con- 
viction upon  their  minds,  the  commissioners  have  determined  to 
connect  with  all  their  rural  schools  a  course  of  teaching  in  scien- 
tific and  practical  agriculture,  communicating  a  knowledge  of  the 
simple  elements  of  agricultural  chemistry ;  of  the  best  modes 
and  operations  of  husbandry  which  have  been  adopted  in  any 
country ;  of  the  nature,  and  character,  and  uses,  of  the  vegetables 
and  plants  necessary  or  useful  to  man  or  beast ;  of  the  improved 
kinds  of  live  stock,  and  of  the  construction  and  use  of  the  most 
improved  and  most  approved  farming  implements  and  ma- 
chinery. With  these  views,  it  is  their  intention  to  train  their 
schoolmasters,  and  to  send  out  such  men  as  are  apt  and  qualified 
to  teach  these  most  useful  branches.  For  this  purpose  the 
government  have  established  this  model  farm,  which  was  begun  in 


180  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

1838,  and  which  has  already,  in  a  greater  or  less  measure,  quali- 
fied and  sent  out  seven  hundred  teachers.  To  my  mind  it  seems 
destined  to  confer  the  most  important  benefits  upon  Ireland,  and 
I  may  add  upon  the  world,  for  so  it  happens  under  the  benig- 
nant arrangements  of  the  Divine  Providence,  the  benefits  of 
every  good  measure  or  effort  for  the  improvement  of  mankind 
proceed,  by  a  sort  of  reduplication,  to  an  unlimited  extent ;  these 
teachers  shall  instruct  their  pupils,  and  these  pupils  become  in 
their  turn  the  teachers  of  others  ;  and  the  good  seed,  thus  sown 
and  widely  scattered,  go  on  yielding  its  constantly-increasing 
products,  to  an  extent  which  no  human  imagination  can 
measure.  Three  thousand  schoolmasters  are  at  this  moment 
demanded  for  Ireland,  and  the  government  are  determined  to 
supply  them.  Happy  is  it  for  a  country,  and  honorable  to 
human  nature,  when,  instead  of  schemes  of  avarice,  and  dreams 
of  ambition,  and  visions  of  conquest,  at  the  dreadful  expense  of 
the  comfort,  and  liberty,  and  lives,  of  the  powerless  and  unpro- 
tected, the  attention  of  those  who  hold  the  destinies  of  their 
fellow-beings  in  their  hands  is  turned  to  their  improvement,  their 
elevation,  their  comfort,  and  their  substantial  welfare. 

The  Model  Farm  and  Agricultural  School  is  at  a  place  called 
Glasnevin,  about  three  miles  from  Dublin,  on  a  good  soil.  The 
situation  is  elevated  and  salubrious,  embracing  a  wide  extent  of 
prospect  of  sea  and  land,  of  plain  and  mountain,  of  city  and 
country,  combining  the  busy  haunts  of  men,  and  the  highest  im- 
provements of  art  and  science,  with  what  is  most  picturesque  and 
charming  in  rural  scenery,  presenting  itself  in  its  bold  mountains 
and  deep  glens,  in  its  beautiful  plantations,  its  cultivated  fields, 
and  its  wide  and  glittering  expanse  of  ocean.  The  scenery  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Dublin,  with  its  fertile  valleys,  and  the 
mountains  of  Wicklow,  of  singularly  grand  and  beautiful 
formation,  bounding  the  prospect  for  a  considerable  extent,  is 
among  the  richest  which  the  eye  can  take  in ;  and  at  the  going 
down  of  the  sun  in  a  fine  summer  evening,  when  the  long  ridge 
of  the  mountains  seemed  bordered  with  a  fringe  of  golden  fire,  it 
carried  my  imagination  back,  with  an  emotion  which  those  only 
who  feel  it  can  understand,  to  the  most  beautiful  and  pictu- 
resque parts  of  Vermont,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Champlain. 
F.  have  a  strong  conviction  of  the  powerful  and  beneficial 
influence  of  fine  natural  scenery,  where  there  is  a  due  measure 


I 

i 


MODEL  FARM  AND  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOL.  181 

of  the  endowment  of  ideality,  upon  the  intellectual  and  moral 
character  ;  and  I  would,  if  possible,  surround  a  place  of  education 
with  those  objects  in  nature  best  suited  to  elevate  and  enlarge 
the  mind,  and  stir  the  soul  of  man  from  its  lowest  depths.  It  is 
at  the  shrine  of  nature,  in  the  temple  pillared  by  the  lofty  moun- 
tains, and  whose  glowing  arches  are  resplendent  with  inextin- 
guishable fires,  that  the  human  heart  is  most  profoundly  impressed 
with  the  unutterable  grandeur  of  the  great  object  of  worship. 
It  is  in  fields  radiant  with  their  golden  harvests,  and  every  where 
offering,  in  their  rich  fruits  and  products,  an  unstinted  compensa- 
tion to  human  toil,  and  the  most  liberal  provision  for  human 
subsistence  and  comfort,  and  in  pastures  and  groves  animated 
with  the  expressive  tokens  of  enjoyment,  and  vocal  with  the 
grateful  hymns  of  ecstasy,  among  the  animal  creation,  that  man 
gathers  up  those  evidences  of  the  faithful,  unceasing,  and  un- 
bounded goodness  of  the  divine  Providence,  which  most  deeply 
touch,  and  often  overwhelm,  the  heart.  The  Model  Farm  and 
School,  at  Glasnevin,  has  connected  with  it  fifty-two  English 
acres  of  land,  the  whole  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  an 
acre  occupied  by  the  farm  buildings,  is  under  cultivation,  and  a 
perfect  system  of  rotation  of  crops.  The  master  of  the  school 
pays  for  this  land  a  rent  of  five  pounds  per  acre,  and  taxes 
and  expenses  carry  the  rent  to  eight  pounds  per  acre.  Twelve 
poor  boys,  or  lads,  live  constantly  with  him,  for  whose  education 
and  board,  besides  their  labor,  he  receives  eight  shillings  sterling 
per  week.  They  work,  as  well  as  I  could  understand,  about  six 
hours  a  day,  and  devote  the  rest  of  the  time  to  study,  or  learning. 
The  course  of  studies  is  not  extensive,  but  embraces  the  most 
common  and  useful  branches  of  education,  such  as  arithmetic, 
geography,  natural  philosophy,  and  agriculture,  in  all  its 
scientific  £ind  practical  details.  They  have  an  agricultural 
examination,  or  lecture,  every  day.  I  had  the  gratification  of 
listening  to  an  examination  of  fourteen  of  these  young  men, 
brought  out  of  the  field  from  their  labor ;  and  cheerfully  admit 
that  it  was  eminently  successful,  and  in  the  highest  degree  cred- 
itable both  to  master  and  pupil.  Besides  these  young  men, 
who  live  on  the  farm,  the  young  men  in  Dublin,  at  the  normal 
school,  who  are  preparing  themselves  for  teachers  of  the  national 
schools,  are  required  to  attend  at  the  farm  and  assist  in  its  labors 
a  portion  of  the  time,  that  they  may  become  thoroughly  ac- 
16 


182  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

quainted  with  scientific  and  practical  agriculture  in  all  its 
branches,  and  be  able  to  teach  it ;  the  government  being  deter- 
mined that  it  shall  form  an  indispensable  part  of  the  school 
instruction  throughout  the  island.  The  great  objects,  then,  of 
the  establishment,  are  to  qualify  these  young  men  for  teachers  by 
a  thorough  and  practical  education  in  the  science,  so  far  as  it  has 
reached  that  character,  and  in  the  most  improved  methods  and 
operations  of  agriculture.  Besides  this,  it  is  intended  to  furnish 
an  opportunity  to  the  sons  of  men  of  wealth,  who  may  be  placed 
here  as  pupils,  to  acquire  a  practical  knowledge  of,  and  a  familiar 
insight  into,  all  the  details  of  farming.  This  must  prove  of  the 
highest  inriportance  to  them  in  the  management  of  their  own 
estates. 

The  superintendent  was  pleased  to  show  me  his  accounts  ni 
detail,  which  evinced,  as  far  as  I  could  ascertain,  a  successful  and 
profitable  management ;  but  as  there  were  several  material 
elements  to  be  taken  into  the  calculation,  I  shall  not  speak  with 
any  confidence  on  this  subject,  without  further  information, 
which  cannot  now  be  had,  but  which  I  shall  take  pains  to  give 
in  the  fullest  manner  hereafter. 

As  the  crops  were  uncommonly  fine,  and  the  whole  cultivation 
and  management,  as  far  as  it  appeared,  excellent,  I  shall  detail 
some  few  particulars  in  a  cursory  manner. 

The  first  object  was  to  illustrate  the  best  system  of  rotation  of 
crops ;  and  three  systems  of  alternate  husbandry  were  going  on  ; 
one  of  a  course  of  three  crops,  one  of  five,  and  one  of  nine ;  and 
one  especial  object  pursued  in  one  department  of  the  farm  was  to 
show  the  most  eligible  course  of  management  of  a  single  acre  of 
land,  so  as  to  give  an  example  of  the  best  system  of  cottage 
husbandry  for  the  poor  man,  who  might  have  only  a  small  allot- 
ment of  land,  and  whose  object  would  be  to  feed  a  cow  and  a 
pig,  and  to  get  what  supplies  he  could  for  his  family.  Such 
lessons,  it  is  obvious,  must  appear  of  the  highest  importance  in 
Ireland,  when  we  consider  the  condition  of  its  peasantry,  and 
cannot  be  without  their  advantages  to  every  cultivator  of  land. 

Another  object  aimed  at  is  to  show  that  a  farm  is  capable  of 
being  kept  in  condition  from  its  own  resources,  and  from  the 
consumption  of  the  principal  part  of  the  produce  upon  the  land. 
No  manure  is  ever  purchased  here  ;  and  the  manager  professed 
to  have  an   ample  supply.     Six  years'  trial,  with  crops  of  the 


MODEL  FARM  AND  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOL.  IS3 

highest  productiveness,  and  indicating  nx)  diminution,  but  rather 
an  increase  of  yield,  seems  to  have  satisfactorily  established  this 
point.  The  provisions  for  saving  all  the  manure,  both  liquid  and 
solid,  for  managing  the  compost  heap,  and  for  increasing  its 
quantity  by  the  addition  of  every  species  of  refuse  that  can  be 
found,  are  complete.  The  stock  consists  of  seventeen  cows,  one 
bull,  six  young  stock,  two  horses,  and  one  pony ;  and  they  are  all 
carefully  stall-fed,  in  clean,  well-littered,  and  well-ventilated 
stables,  with  ample  space  before  and  behind  them,  and  turned 
out  for  recreation,  in  a  yard,  about  two  hours  in  a  day.  The 
manure  heap  is  in  the  rear  of  the  stables ;  is  always  carefully  made 
up,  and  kept  well  covered  with  soil,  or  sods,  or  weeds,  so  as  to 
prevent  evaporation,  retain  the  effluvia,  and  increase  the  quan- 
tity. The  liquid  manure  is  collected,  by  spouts,  from  the  stables, 
into  a  tank,  from  which  it  is,  as  often  as  convenient,  pumped  up. 
and  thrown,  by  an  engine  pipe  attached  to  the  pump,  over  the 
heap ;  and  that  portion  of  it  which  is  not  retained,  but  passes  off, 
is  caught  again  in  another  tank,  and  again  returned  upon  the 
heap  by  the  same  process  as  before.  The  skilful  manager  of  the 
farm  prefers  this  method  to  that  of  applying  the  liquid  manure 
directly  from  a  sprinkling  machine  upon  his  fields.  Either  mode 
may  have  its  peculiar  advantages,  which  I  shall  not  now  discuss. 
The  object  of  each  is  to  save  and  to  use  the  whole  ;  and  I  am 
determined,  so  important  do  I  deem  it,  never  to  lose  a  fair  oppor- 
tunity of  reminding  the  farmers  that  the  liquid  manure  of  any 
animal,  if  properly  saved  and  applied,  is  of  equal  value  as  the  solid 
portions ;  but  in  most  places  this  is  wholly  lost.  The  manure 
for  his  crops  he  prefers  to  plough  in  in  the  autumn ;  and  the  ex- 
traordinary crops  of  potatoes  grown  by  him  are  powerful  testimo- 
nies in  favor  of  his  management. 

His  potatoes  give  an  average  yield  of  eighteen  tons  (gross 
weight)  to  an  English  acre,  which,  allowing  fifty-six  pounds  to 
the  bushel,  would  be  seven  hundred  and  twenty  bushels.  He  has 
grown  twenty-two  tons  to  an  English  acre.  Either  of  these  quan- 
tities, in  New  England  and  in  Old  England,  would  be  considered 
a  magnificent  crop.  He  plants  his  potatoes  either  in  ridges  thirty 
inches  asunder,  Avith  the  potatoes  or  sets  eighteen  inches  apart 
in  the  drills,  or  else  in  what  here  is  called  the  lazy-hed  fashion^ 
which  is  a  common  practice,  but  which,  as  it  respects  the  labor 
required,  is  altogether  misnamed.     In  this  case,  the  land  is  dug 


184  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

or  ploughed,  and  thrown  into  beds  of  about  three  feet  wide,  first 
formed  by  ridging  or  back-furrowing  with  the  plough,  and  after- 
wards covered  with  earth,  thrown  from  a  ditch  between  the  beds 
about  eighteen  inches  in  width,  and  running  between  all  the 
beds.  After  this  bed  is  smoothed  off,  the  potatoes  are  planted 
upon  it,  in  rows,  crosswise,  at  the  distance  of  eighteen  inches  by 
thirty  inches  apart,  and  they  are  then  covered  with  about  four 
inches  of  earth  taken  out  of  the  intermediate  ditch  with  a  spade. 
After  the  potatoes  are  fairly  above  ground,  they  have  a  second 
covering  of  four  inches  of  earth,  as  before,  and  this  comprehends 
the  whole  of  their  cultivation  in  the  lazy-bed  fashion.  When 
they  are  planted  in  drills  or  ridges,  the  space  between  the  ridges 
is  never  suffered  to  be  disturbed  by  a  plough,  but  is  simply  dug 
with  a  spade,  as  it  is  an  important  object  to  avoid  injuring  the 
young  fibrous  roots  of  the  plant,  upon  which  the  tubers  are  formed. 
The  potatoes  are  kept,  in  this  way,  with  an  occasional  applica- 
tion of  the  hand  to  the  weeds,  entirely  clean  ;  and  the  luxuriance 
of  their  growth  throughout  a  large  field,  as  far  as  my  observation 
goes,  was  never  surpassed.  By  his  management  of  his  manure, 
sprinkling  the  heap  with  the  liquid  portions,  and  so  keeping  up, 
through  the  summer,  a  slight  but  constant  fermentation,  not  only 
all  the  weeds  thrown  upon  it  are  rotted,  but  the  seeds  of  these 
weeds  are  effectually  destroyed.  He  says  the  largest  crop  of 
potatoes  which  he  ever  produced  was  had  in  a  field  where  the 
sets  were  placed  over  the  whole  field,  at  a  distance  of  a  yard  each 
way  from  each  other.  He  prefers  always  planting  whole  pota- 
toes, of  a  medium  size,  to  cutting  them.  He  showed  me  a 
portion  of  the  field,  which  had  been  planted  with  cuttings  of 
potatoes,  sent  him  by  a  friend,  of  a  new  and  valuable  kind,  and 
which  he  cut  with  a  view  to  planting  more  land ;  but  the  differ- 
ence in  their  appearance  was  most  marked,  and  showed  an 
inferiority  of  as  one  to  three  to  those  which  were  planted  whole. 
Ten  bushels  of  seed  he  considers  sufficient  for  planting  an  acre. 
His  turnips  promised  extremely  well.  I  remarked  to  him  that 
they  were  sown  in  the  drills  very  thickly.  He  replied  that  he 
had  never  lost  his  crop  by  the  fly,  and  he  attributed  his  success 
to  two  circumstances  —  the  first,  to  planting  his  seed  two  inches 
deep,  by  which  means  the  roots  of  the  plant  became  extended  and 
strong  before  the  plant  showed  itself  above  ground ;  and  the 
second,  by  sowing  a  large  quantity  of  seed ;   if  the  flies  took  a 


MODEL    FARM    AND    AGllICULTURAJL    SCHOOL.  185 

portion  of  the  plants,  he  would  probably  have  an  ample  supply 
left.  He  suffers  them  to  get  somewhat  advanced  before  they  are 
thinned,  and  then  is  careful  to  select  the  healthiest  and  strongest 
plants  to  remain.  I  must  not  be  supposed  ever  to  endorse  the 
opinions  of  another  man,  simply  because  I  give  them ;  but 
certainly  success  is  the  best  test  of  judgment  and  skill.  How- 
ever interesting  and  ingenious  a  man's  speculations  may  be,  his 
practice  is  always  worth  vastly  more  than  his  theory. 

His  crops  of  mangel-wurzel  were  magnificent ;  and  he  gets  a 
great  deal  of  green  feed  for  his  cows,  by  plucking  the  under 
leaves ;  though,  if  too  severely  stripped  in  the  autumn,  they  are 
liable  to  be  injured  by  the  frosts. 

He  sows  tares  and  oats  together  for  green  feed  for  his  stock. 
The  oats  serve  to  support  the  tares,  and  the  mixture  seems  to  be 
greatly  relished  by  the  animals.  His  great  dependence  for  green 
feeding  of  his  stock  is  upon  the  Italian  rye-grass,  a  most  valuable 
grass,  which  is  very  much  commended  wherever  it  is  cultivated, 
and  which,  I  hope,  will  be  introduced  into  the  United  States.  I 
saw  a  field  of  this  on  the  farm,  which  had  already  been  cut  twice 
in  the  season,  and  was  nearly  ready  for  another  cropping.  In 
Manchester,  the  last  autumn,  I  saw  specimens  of  three  cuttings 
of  Italian  rye-grass,  all  cut  from  the  same  field  in  the  same 
season,  the  combined  length  of  which  was  thirteen  feet.  This 
was  a  surprising  growth,  and  indicated  the  remarkable  luxuriance 
of  the  plant. 

His  oats  give  an  average  yield  of  eighty  bushels  to  an  English 
acre  ;  and  the  oats  chiefly  preferred  here  are  the  Scotch  potato 
and  the  Hopetoun  oat.  The  weight  of  the  potato  oat  per 
bushel  is  stated  to  be  about  forty-four  pounds.  I  have  known  it 
in  the  United  States,  the  first  year  of  its  cultivation,  to  weigh  as 
much,  but  the  second  year  not  to  weigh  more  than  thirty-five 
pounds  per  bushel.  This  must  be  owing  to  some  error  or  defect 
in  the  cultivation  ;  for  I  can  conceive  of  no  natural  hinderance,  in 
many  localities,  to  the  most  successful  cultivation  of  this  crop. 
He  sows  rye-grass  with  his  oat  crop,  and  gets  a  good  cutting, 
after  the  oats  are  off,  from  the  stubble.  It  might  be  thought  that 
this  is  riding  the  horse  "  too  hard ; "  but,  as  the  rye-grass  does 
not  ripen  its  seed  in  the  case,  the  soil  is  not  exhausted.  The 
next  season  it  gives  a  full  yield.  I  shall  hereafter  extend  the 
account  of  this  admirable  establishment,  if  any  thing  presents 
16* 


186  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

itself,  upon  further  inquiry,  desirable  to  be  communicated.  The 
institution  is  one  of  great  importance,  and  will  serve  as  a  model 
for  others ;  and  several,  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  through 
the  public-spirited  exertions  of  several  gentlemen,  who  are  large 
landholders,  are  in  the  process  of  being  formed.  I  shall  conclude 
the  account  with  the  production,  the  current  year,  (1844,)  of  six- 
teen and  a  half  acres  of  land  upon  this  farm,  which  the  manager, 
in  whose  established  character  I  have  entire  confidence,  has  been 
pleased  to  give  me.  In  my  experience,  the  yield  has  not  been 
surpassed. 

From  these  sixteen  and  one  half  English  acres,  he  has  fed 
entirely,  from  the  4th  of  April  to  the  18th  of  August,  seventeen 
milch  cows,  one  bull,  six  young  stock,.two  horses,  and  one  pony. 
Of  one  acre  in  vetches,  he  has  used  one  half  the  crop  ;  the  rest 
remains.  Of  one  acre  in  cabbages,  he  has  sold  tAVo  thirds,  and 
used  one  third ;  the  two  thirds  having  brought  him  by  the  sale 
£  13  sterling ;  and  from  the  same  sixteen  and  a  half  acres  he 
has  cut  and  cured,  and  has  in  stack,  twenty-eight  tons  of  well- 
made  hay,  from  rye-grass.  I  took  this  statement  down  from  his 
own  mouth,  with  the  stack  of  hay  before  me,  the  quantity  of 
which  was  ascertained  by  cubic  measurement,  by  a  rule  which 
is  considered  established  and  accurate. 


XXIV. —  DUBLIN    BOTANICAL    GARDEN. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin  is  a  Botanical  Garden,  compre- 
hending twenty-seven  acres,  enclosed  by  a  high  stone  wall,  with 
a  beautiful  rivulet  running  through  it,  with  ample  and  elegant 
conservatories  and  greenhouses,  and  in  the  highest  state  of  cul- 
tivation and  embellishment.  It  is  supported  partly  by  private 
subscription,  and  partly  by  donations  from  the  government.  It 
is  a  beautiful  retreat,  and  open  to  all  persons  two  days  in  a  week, 
with  intelligent  and  courteous  superintendents  to  show  and  ex- 
plain every  thing.  To  my  inquiry  of  the  superintendent 
whether  he  suffered  any  injury  from  the  visitors  plucking  the 
flowers,  or  breaking  the  plants,  he  replied,  very  little,  if  any ;  none 


DUBLIN  BOTANICAL  GARDEN.  187 

whatever  from  the  highest  classes  in  society,  and  none  whatever 
from  the  lowest  classes,  who  visited  it  in  great  numbers ;  and  who, 
coming  out  of  their  damp  cellars,  and  their  confined  streets,  and 
their  dark  and  offensive  holes,  and  fastnesses,  and  common 
sewers,  no  doubt  found  in  it,  with  their  children,  almost  a  transi- 
tion from  earth  to  heaven  ;  and  here  breathed  the  perfumes  of  the 
divine  beneficence,  and  contemplated,  with  a  felicity  which  even 
princes  might  envy,  the  exuberant  tokens  of  God's  goodness  in 
the  flowers  and  fruits  of  the  earth,  radiant  with  a  celestial  beauty. 
There  were  other  persons,  whom  he  chose  to  denominate  the 
vulgar  rich,  who  were  not  so  abstemious,  and  who  required  to 
be  watched.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  as  education  advances,  a  higher 
tone  of  moral  sentiment  will  prevail,  and  that  every  thing  of  taste 
or  art,  designed  for  general  gratification,  will  be  secure  against 
injury  or  defacement,  so  that  the  odious  notices  and  cautions, 
which  are  now  so  constantly  seen  in  such  places  against  depre- 
dation, may  themselves  be  deemed  a  public  insult,  and  the  very 
idea  of  violating  an  honorable  confidence,  and  abusing  the  public 
beneficence,  may  so  trouble  a  man's  conscience,  that  he  shall 
desire  to  run  away  from  himself. 

This  garden  and  grounds,  and  its  conservatories,  are  designed 
to  furnish  specimens  of  all  the  most  valuable  and  curious  native 
and  exotic  plants  and  fruits  ;  and,  in  addition  to  their  present 
erections,  the  proprietors  are  now  about  to  build  a  conservatory 
four  hundred  feet  long,  and  seventy  feet  wide,  with  a  height  pro- 
portioned. The  grounds  are  always  open  to  the  studious  and 
scientific,  and  a  course  of  botanical  lectures  is  given,  with  the 
illustrations  to  be  found  here. 

Botany  may  here  be  studied  to  great  advantage,  as  portions  of 
the  ground  are  allotted  to  the  perfect  arrangement  of  the  plants, 
according  to  the  classification  and  orders  of  Linnaeus,  and  in 
another  part,  according  to  the  natural  order ;  and  for  the  benefit 
of  agricultural  students  and  farmers,  specimens  are  cultivated 
and  neatly  arranged  of  all  the  useful  vegetables  and  grasses, 
with  their  botanical  and  their  vulgar  names  affixed  to  them,  with 
specimens  likewise  of  the  most  pernicious  weeds,  that  the  farmer 
may  see  what  to  choose  and  what  to  avoid.  The  collection  is 
already  extensive,  and  is  constantly  becoming  enlarged.  It 
is  difficult  to  overrate  the  value  of  such  establishments,  both  for 
use  and  for  pleasure,  for  their  pecuniary,  their   intellectual,  and 


188  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

their  moral  benefit.  While  penning  this  account,  I  hear,  with 
extreme  regret,  that  the  Botanical  Garden  in  Boston,  a  city  so 
eminent  for  its  public  spirit  and  beneficence,  is  to  be  strangled  in 
its  infancy,  and  abandoned ;  and  that  the  ground  is  likely  to  be 
appropriated  to  buildings,  so  that  the  rich  prospect  of  the  charm- 
ing environs  of  the  city  is  to  be  shut  out,  and  the  fresh  and  salu- 
brious breezes  from  the  verdant  fields  and  hills  of  the  surrounding 
country  are  to  be  debarred  an  entrance  for  the  refreshment  of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  busy  and  crowded  mart ;  and  even  the  sight 
of  the  glorious  western  sky,  which,  with  its  gilded,  and  glowing, 
and  gorgeous  drapery,  I  have  made,  at  evening,  a  pilgrimage,  many 
hundreds  of  times,  to  contemplate  and  adore,  is  to  be  excluded  by 
high  walls  of  brick  and  stone.  Should  this  be  done  ?  and  how 
can  such  an  injury,  if  once  committed,  be  repaired  ?  Surely  they 
will  forgive  one  of  their  own  children,  whom  no  distance  of  place 
and  no  length  of  absence  can  estrange  from  his  honored  and 
revered  birthplace,  in  saying  that  even  one  half  of  the  expense 
thrown  away  upon  public  dinners  and  parade,  would  secure  to 
them  permanent  provisions  for  health,  instruction,  comfort,  and 
delight,  whose  value  no  pecuniary  standard  can  measure,  and 
which  can  never  be  duly  appreciated,  but  by  those  who  have 
enjoyed  and  have  then  been  deprived  of  them. 


^    '^ 


^^ 


■>a-  .>s*^ 


EUROPEAN    AGMCULTUEE. 


THIRD  REPORT 


XXV.  — AGRICULTURAL   EDUCATION. 

My  Second  Report  gave  an  account  of  the  Agricultural 
School  at  Glasnevin,  near  Dublin,  Ireland.  I  propose  to  add  a 
notice  of  some  other  industrial  schools,  which  I  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  inspecting.  The  excellent  establishment  which 
I  described,  and  three  others,  of  a  similar  character,  which  I 
have  visited,  are  in  Ireland.  Ireland,  in  this  respect,  has  taken 
the  lead  of  England  and  Scotland,  where  we  might  sooner  have 
expected  to  find  institutions  of  this  natiure. 

That  in  a  country  where  the  waves  of  political  agitation  have 
for  years  been  tossing  all  over  it  like  the  sea  in  a  storm,  and 
where,  certainly  in  large  portions  of  it,  there  exist  a  degradation 
and  state  of  destitution  utterly  beyond  any  power  which  I  possess 
adequately  to  describe,  —  in  many  parts,  a  struggle  for  existence 
which  seems,  to  an  inexperienced  spectator,  absolutely  desperate, 
—  and,  in  some  parts,  a  ferocity,  growing  not  out  of  any  innate 
malignity,  but  out  of  unfortunate  social  relations,  (for  which  the 
remedy  is  not  obvious,)  scarcely  to  be  paralleled  even  among 
cannibals,  —  in  a  condition  of  society  where  all  the  elements  of 
social  life  appear  in  a  state  of  violent  conflict,  —  that  in  the 
midst  of  all  this  there  should  be  growing  up  institutions  of  this 
character,  even  in  advance  of  places  blessed  with  peace,  plenty, 
quiet,  and  the  highest  measure  of  social  improvement  which 
has  yet  been  reached,  is  not  a  little  remarkable. 


190  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

But  this  beautiful  and  wretched  country  abounds  with  intelli- 
gent mindsj  glowing  with  the  warmest  philanthropy.  They 
appear,  indeed,  like  stars  in  a  partially-clouded  night,  pouring, 
out  of  their  own  native  fulness,  rays  of  the  purest  splendor; 
struggling,  as  it  were,  continually,  to  penetrate  the  darkness 
which  intercepts  them ;  and  appearing  to  shed  a  brighter  radiance 
as  the  mists  and  black  clouds  sweep  along,  and,  occasionally 
breaking  open,  leave,  though  only  for  a  time,  a  way  for  the 
transmission  of  their  light.  They  may,  sometimes,  seem  to 
serve  no  other  purpose  than  to  render  the  darkness  visible ;  but 
they  inspire  courage,  and  strengthen  the  hope  of  a  wider  diffu- 
sion, and  the  ultimate  dawning  of  a  full  day. 

These  men  rightly  conceive  that  education  is  to  be  one  of 
the  great  means  of  elevating  Ireland  ;  and  that,  an  education  of 
a  practical  character.  In  an  education  of  a  different  character, 
Ireland  is  not  wanting.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  in  some  parts 
of  Ireland,  even  the  common  people  are  familiar  with  the  an- 
cient classics ;  and  the  household  deities  of  the  heathen  are  en- 
shrined in  their  cabins  among  their  own  numberless  saints. 
When  in  Killarney,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  lakes  of  that  pic- 
turesque and  romantic  region,  I  took  leave  to  inquire  of  the  hotel- 
keeper  into  the  state  of  education  among  the  people.  He  im- 
mediately called  in  a  ragged,  dirty,  barefooted  boy,  —  for,  indeed, 
very  few  of  the  common  people  in  the  rural  districts  of  Ireland 
are  in  any  other  condition,  —  and  told  him  ''to  bring  his  books 
and  show  the  gentleman  what  he  knew."  This  boy  was  only 
ten  years  old,  and  the  son  of  a  shoemaker.  He  brought  in  his 
Greek  Testament,  and  in  the  Gospel  of  John,  in  which  I  pretty 
thoroughly  examined  him,  he  recited  with  perfect  correctness. 
I  then  examined  him  in  the  declensions  and  conjugations  of 
nouns,  and  adjectives,  and  verbs,  in  which  he  was  equally  expert 
and  correct.  I  found,  likewise,  upon  inquiry,  that  this  was  the 
general  course  of  education  at  the  school  which  he  attended. 
The  next  day,  a  lad  passed  me,  evidently  on  his  way  to  school, 
with  his  books  under  his  arm.  I  inquired  his  age,  which  he 
said  was  fifteen  years,  and  then  desired  him  to  allow  me  to  see 
a  book  which  he  had  with  him,  which  was  Homer  in  Greek ; 
and  he  was  studying  the  second  book.  To  my  inquiry  if  there 
were  many  in  his  class,  he  replied,  yes;  and  to  my  question 
whether   he    was  destined  for  the  priesthood,  his  answer  was 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION.  191 

in  the  negative.  I  learned  that  classical  learning  was  by  no 
means  uncommon  in  Ireland,  and  among  some  even  of  the 
poorest  of  the  people.  Schools,  likewise,  of  a  more  humble 
character,  abound  in  Ireland,  and  benevolent  efforts  are  making 
to  extend  and  improve  them. 

It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  infer,  from  what  I  have  stated 
above,  that  education  in  Ireland  is  every  where  of  a  high  char- 
acter, or  that  it  is  universal.  I  might  do  wrong  to  say  even  that 
it  is  general,  though  it  is  certainly  much  more  general  than  is 
usually  supposed.  Many  parts  of  Ireland  are  wrapped  in  thick 
darkness,  with  its  usual  concomitant,  the  grossest  superstition. 
Indeed,  without  impugning  the  prevalent  religion  of  Ireland,  a 
fair  proportion  of  the  ministers  of  which  are  indefatigable  in 
their  pastoral  labors,  and  disinterestedly  devoted  to  the  welfare 
of  their  flocks,  it  will  not  be  denied  that  it  discourages  the 
general  or  extended  education  of  the  people.  I  speak  of  what 
strikes  ine  as  facts  in  the  case,  and  neither  attribute  nor  insin- 
uate any  unworthy  motives.  Nor  would  England,  as  far  as  my 
nnpressions  go,  gain  much  by  a  comparison  with  Ireland  in  this 
respect.  In  England  the  higher  classes  are  not  without  strong, 
and  it  may  be  conscientious  prejudices  against  the  education  of 
the  lower  and  laboring  classes.  The  course  of  education,  at  the 
national  schools  in  England  which  I  have  visited,  — and  they  are 
not  a  few,  —  is  certainly  of  a  meagre  and  limited  description, 
embracing  no  more  than  reading,  spelling,  writing,  and  the 
study  of  the  Bible,  the  catechism  and  the  creeds,  with  the  com- 
mittal of  hymns  to  memory.  To  my  inquiry  of  a  noble  and 
enlightened  woman,  the  benevolent  patroness  and  supporter  of 
a  large  school,  and  to  whom,  how  much  soever  I  might  differ 
from  her  in  opinion,  it  would  be  impossible  to  ascribe  any  want 
of  kind  regard  for  her  dependants  and  beneficiaries,  whether  it 
would  not  be  useful  to  teach  these  children  some  geography, 
and  induce  them  to  read  some  books  of- general  knowledge,  her 
reply  was,  that  ''  she  wanted  none  of  the  ologies,  neither  geol- 
ogy, mineralogy,  nor  chronology,  taught  in  her  school ;  and  that, 
in  her  opinion,  it  was  quite  enough  of  general  knowledge  for  the 
children  to  know  their  prayers  and  the  catechism ;  and  of  geog- 
raphy, for  them  to  be  able  to  find  their  way  from  their  house  to 
their  work,  to  the  school,  and  to  the  church."  If  I  had  not  met 
with  repeated  instances  of  the  same  avowed  sentiments,  and  of 


192  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTUHE. 

a  practice  conformed  to  them,  I  should  hesitate  in  mailing  any 
general  inferences.  As  it  is,  however,  having  stated  the  case,  I 
prefer  to  leave  it  to  my  readers  to  form  their  own  conclusions. 

I  could  not  help  replying  to  this  noble  lady,  that  one  of  the 
ologies  seemed  to  be  pretty  assiduously  taught  in  the  school,  and 
that  was  theology  ;  for  the  catechism  and  creeds  were  inculcated 
with  peremptory  authority,  and  the  Bible  was  the  only  reading 
book  in  the  school.  She  admitted  this,  but  an  exception  of  this 
nature  needed  no  apology.  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  the 
course  might  have  been  enlarged,  and  other  branches  of  instruction 
have  been  introduced  to  advantage  ;  that  some  good  for  religion 
itself  might  be  gathered  even  from  the  simplest  discoveries  of 
geology,  and  the  wonders,  and  uses,  and  splendors  of  the  min- 
eral world ;  that  the  great  and  settled  truths  of  physiology,  those 
which  are  directly  practical  in  their  character,  might  be  of 
service  both  to  the  health  of  the  body  and  the  mind,  and  conse- 
quently to  the  moral  health ;  that  a  general  knowledge  of 
anatomy,  both  human  and  comparative,  could  scarcely  be  with- 
out its  use ;  and  that  it  might  be  as  serviceable,  as  it  would  be 
interesting,  if  children  were  taught  to  understand  some  of  the 
marvels  of  their  own  structure,  and  led  to  see  how  this  curious 
frame  of  their  bodies  is  knit  together  and  compacted  by  an  all- 
powerful  Architect ;  and  the  still  more  wonderful  capacities  and 
faculties  of  their  own  minds,  where  ''the  inspiration  of  the 
Almighty  has  given  them  understanding," — and  thus  be  led  to 
reverence  the  Divinity,  who  has  made  their  own  souls  the 
temples  of  his  indwelling  spirit.  I  could  not  think  that  it 
would  be  straying  far  from  the  best  objects  of  education,  if 
these  children  were  early  accustomed  to  see  every  object  and 
operation  in  nature  instinct  with  lessons  of  heavenly  wisdom. 
I  cannot  think  that  any  thing  would  be  lost.  Are  we  not  bound 
to  believe  that  much  would  be  gained  by  every  advance  in 
knowledge  of  this  kind;  if  children  were  taught  daily  to 
consider  the  flowers  of  the  field,  how  they  grow ;  what  causes 
the  earth  to  yield  its  food  for  man  and  beast,  and  makes  the  dry 
seed  spring  up  into  a  beautiful  and  fruitful  plant,  arrayed  in  a 
splendor  surpassing  that  of  Oriental  luxury ;  and  who  takes  care 
of  the  birds  of  the  air,  who,  though  they  have  neither  store- 
house nor  barn,  find  their  daily  and  hourly  wants  supplied  by 
an  invisible  hand  and  a  paternal  and  an  inexhaustible  bounty  ? 


I 


AGRICULTURAL     EDUCATION.  193 

Indeed,  I  have  yet  to  learn  that  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 
can  ever  be  otherwise  than  favorable  to  virtue  ;  or  that  what- 
ever tends  to  enlarge  and  improve  the  mind  does  not,  in  an 
equal  degree,  tend  to  render  character  more  valuable,  moral 
obligations  more  authoritative,  and  inspire  and  strengthen  that 
self-respect  which  is  among  the  most  powerful  instruments  and 
securities  of  virtue. 

If  I  should  be  asked,  now.  What  has  all  this  to  do  with  agri- 
culture? I  answer,  Much  every  way.  It  will  be  found,  with 
respect  to  agriculture,  — what  is  true  in  reference  to  every  other 
art,  —  that  its  proper  exercise,  and  all  the  improvements  which  it 
has  received,  have  been  the  effects  of  the  application  of  mind  to 
the  subject ;  in  other  words,  of  inquiry,  observation,  knowledge, 
and  especially  the  results  of  intelligent  experience.  Who  does 
not  know  the  difference  between  a  stupid  and  an  intelligent 
laborer ;  between  a  man  scarcely  raised  above  the  brute  animal 
which  he  drives,  and  a  man  whose  faculties  are  all  awake,  and 
who  is  constantly  upon  the  alert  to  discover  and  adopt  the  best 
mode  of  executing  the  task  which  he  has  undertaken ;  between 
a  beast  altogether  the  creature  of  instinct,  or  a  mere  machine, 
moving  only  as  it  is  impelled,  and  unable  to  correct  its  own 
errors,  and  a  thinking,  knowing,  reasoning  animal,  always  search- 
ing for  the  right  way,  making  all  his  actions  subservient  to  his 
judgment,  and  gathering  continual  accessions  of  power  and 
facility  of  action  from  his  own  and  the  experience  of  others  ? 
Every,  one  will  admit  that  the  more  intelligence,  the  more  skill, 
the  more  knowledge,  a  man  has,  the  better  is  he  qualified,  other 
things  being  equal,  for  the  management  of  a  farm.  It  holds 
equally  true  that  the  more  intelligence,  the  more  skill,  the  more 
knowledge,  a  laborer  has,  the  better  is  he  qualified  to  assist  in 
that  management,  and  to  perform  the  part  which  belongs  to  him 
in  the  working  of  the  whole  machinery. 

I  believe  I  may  safely  say,  that  a  New  England  laborer  ac- 
complishes in  the  same  time  much  more  than  an  English 
laborer ;  and  this  circumstance,  in  respect  to  agriculture,  and 
especially  in  some  of  the  manufacturing  and  mechanic  arts, 
which  more  demand  the  exercise  of  the  mind  than  the  ordi- 
nary operations  of  husbandry,  is  one  among  other  circumstances 
which  enable  us  to  come  in  successful  competition  with  the 
labor  of  Europe,  so  very  inferior  in  its  cost.  I  cannot  say  they 
17 


194  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

always  execute  their  work  as  well.  Certainly,  in  ploughing  and 
draining,  our  operations  are  altogether  inferior  to  what  is  done  in 
England,  where,  in  the  perfection  with  which  these  matters  are 
executed,  nothing  more  seems  to  me  either  attainable  or  desira- 
ble. But  this  arises  from  several  causes  ;  —  the  more  we  have  to 
do  compared  with  the  number  of  hands  we  have  to  accomplish 
it ;  the  extent  to  which  a  system  of  division  of  labor  is  carried 
in  England,  so  that  particular  individuals  are  accustomed  to  do 
only  particular  things,  and  consequently  acquire  a  precision  and 
facility  of  operation,  which  such  exact  attention  and  long-con- 
tiruied  practice  are  sure  to  give,  attended  with  an  almost  utter 
disqualification  for  any  other  branches  of  labor.  In  many  de- 
partments and  operations  of  husbandry,  this  exactness  is  not 
necessary,  though  in  many  I  am  ready  to  admit  its  utility  ;  but 
in  the  amount  of  work  which  an  American  laborer  will  accom- 
plish in  a  given  time,  and  in  the  facility  with  which  he  turns 
from  one  species  of  labor  to  another,  he  is  far  before  an  English 
laborer.  This,  I  believe,  is,  in  a  great  degree,  owing  to  the  dif- 
ference in  their  minds ;  the  one  being  educated,  the  other  uned- 
ucated ;  the  one  being  accustomed  to  depend  upon  himself,  to 
inquire,  to  reflect,  to  observe,  to  experiment ;  the  other  scarcely 
exercising  his  mind  at  all  more  than  the  cattle  which  he  drives, 
and  accustomed  to  move  in  the  line,  and  that  only,  which  has 
been  marked  out  for  him.  I  hold  that  education,  in  every  con- 
dition of  life,  is  a  great  good.  It  sometimes  gives  facilities  for 
particular  crimes,  of  which,  otherwise,  men  would  have  been 
incapable  ;  but  the  viciousness  of  these  men  would  have  shown 
itself  in  some  other  form.  It  is  in  no  sense  attributable  to  their 
education.  I  believe,  as  much  as  I  live,  that  every  advance  in 
the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  the  mind  is  an  incentive 
and  an  auxiliary  to  good  conduct ;  and  although  an  education 
purely  intellectual  falls  far  short  of  the  beneficial  influences 
which  it  might  yield,  when  the  moral  sentiments  are  cultivated 
conjointly  with  the  intellectual,  yet  am  I  perfectly  assured,  that 
every  quickening  or  cultivation  of  the  mental  faculties,  every 
thing  which  contributes,  in  any  measure  or  degree,  to  raise  man 
above  a  mere  machine,  or  a  mere  animal,  is  so  far  positive  good  — 
positive  good  for  his  efliciency  as  a  laborer,  and  for  his  happiness 
and  moral  well-being  as  a  man.  I  am  afraid  I  shall  be  thought 
to  dwell  too  long  on  this  subject ;  but  I  have  felt  such  a  burning 


AGRICULTURAL     EDUCATION. 


190 


indignation  when  I  have  heard  the  cause  of  popular  education 
spoken  of  disparagingly,  by  those  who  were  reaping  its  richest 
fruits ;  I  have  felt  such  a  deep  compassion  for  the  very  degraded 
condition,  in  this  respect,  of  a  large  portion  of  the  laboring  pop- 
ulation of  England  ;  I  have  seen  with  so  much  pain,  on  the  part 
of  some  of  those  whose  laps  were  overflowing  with  these  rich- 
est blessings  of  Heaven,  so  strong  a  reluctance  to  communicate 
of  their  abundance  to  these  benighted  children  of  ignorance  and 
want,  in  many  cases,  undoubtedly,  springing  from  an  honest  dis- 
trust of  their  utility,  —  and,  at  the  same  time,  I  have  felt  my  own 
heart  swelling  almost  to  bursting,  with  gratitude,  for  the  privi- 
leges in  this  respect  enjoyed  by  a  large  portion  of  my  own 
countrymen,  and  the  blessed  fruits  of  which  are  ^very  where 
seen  among  them  in  such  rich  abundance,  —  that  I  cannot  refrain 
from  speaking  out ;  and  too  happy  should  I  be  if  my  feeble 
voice  could  do  any  thing  towards  commanding  that  attention 
to  the  subject  which  its  importance  demands.* 

*  That  I  do  not  express  myself  too  strongly  on  this  subject,  may  appear  from 
the  following  remarks  of  a  distinguished  professor  of  agriculture,  who  is  much 
employed  in  lecturing  to  the  farmers  about  the  country.  They  were  made 
recentiiy  at  a  large  agricultural  meeting. 

"  I  put  no  stress  on  the  spread  of  knowledge,  whether  here,  in  Scotland,  in  Ire- 
land, or  elsewhere.  I  attach  no  importance  to  intellectual  improvement  amongst 
the  agriculturists.  I  do  not  value  that  instruction  which  you  saw  those  boys  had 
received  to-day,  unless  that  knowledge  furnishes  you  with  the  means  of  putting 
more  money  into  your  pockets." 

And,  indeed,  is  this  all  the  value  which  this  learned  gentleman  can  see  in  edu- 
cation ?  One  carmot  help  feeling  that  it  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  he  him- 
self should  have  been  put  to  so  much  trouble  to  acquire  his  own  education,  for  an 
object  in  which  it  is  not  unlikely,  with  all  his  success,  many  a  thimble-rigger,  or 
dog-meat-seller,  would  beat  him. 

At  the  great  meeting  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  Ireland,  in  Dublin, 
the  last  year,  a  peer  of  the  realm,  of  high  rank,  and  who  (so  much  better  often- 
times are  men  than  the  principles  which  they  profess)  is  esteemed  withal  a  very 
just  and  kind  landlord,  was  pleased,  after  strongly  proclaiming  his  interest  in  the 
improvement  of  the  condition  of  tiie  peasantry  and  the  laboring  classes,  "  to  beg 
of  his  hearers  not  to  misunderstand  him,  nor  to  subject  him  to  the  imputation  of  a 
desire  to  raise  these  people  out  of  their  proper  condition  —  the  condition  which 
Providence  had  assigned  them." 

One  would  be  glad  to  know,  under  such  an  interpretation  of  the  designs  of 
Providence,  how  any  man  should  ever  attempt  the  improvement  of  any  body,  or 
any  thing ;  and  whether  he  himself  could  by  any  compulsory  process  be  induced 
to  exchange  his  marquisate  for  a  dukedom. 

With  great  personal  respect  for  both  these  gentlemen,  whose  publicly-expressed 


196  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


1.   GLASNEVIN  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOL. 

I  promised  in  my  former  Report  to  give  some  further  accomit 
of  the  school  at  Glasnevin ;  and  since  that  time  the  intelligent 
and  obliging  superintendent  has  been  kind  enough  to  fiu-nish 
me  with  a  copy  of  his  farm  accounts  for  two  years,  which  I 
think  must  be  interesting  to  my  readers.  It  is  obviously  a  great 
question  whether  an  institution  of  this  character  can  be  made  to 
support  itself;  and  this  question  is  affirmatively  and  emphat- 
ically answered  by  the  result  in  this  case.  It  is  obviously 
highly  desirable  that  education  should  be  made  as  cheap  as 
possible.  I  very  well  understand  what  often  comes  of  making 
things  cheap  ;  that  when  the  price  is  reduced,  the  quality  of  the 
article  is  made  to  correspond.  A  milkman  in  New  York  once 
told  me  that  he  always  accommodated  his  customers  as  to  the 
price ;  six  and  a  quarter  cents  was  the  standard  price  for  sound 
and  pure  milk ;  but  if  his  customers  wished  to  have  it  at  five  or 
four  cents,  he  took  care  always  to  put  enough  water  with  it  to 
bring  it  to  the  standard  price.  This  honest  fellow,  who  was  a 
shrewd  Irishman,  by  the  way,  (an  evidence  that  all  the  wooden 
nutmegs  are  not  made  in  New  England,)  was  pleased  also  to  tell 
me  that,  by  straining  water  through  some  finely-ground  Indian 
meal  or  flour,  so  as  to  color  it,  and  adding  to  it  a  mere  dash  of 
skimmed  milk,  he  was  able  then  to  afford  it  at  three  cents  a 
quart  to  those  who  could  not  give  a  higher  price.  Most 
certainly  I  cannot  recommend,  in  this  sense  of  the  word,  a  cheap 
education ;  but  if  the  advantages  of  a  good,  solid,  and  enlarged 
education  can  be  made  universally  acceptable ;  if  they  can  be 
purchased  by  that  which  most  young  persons  have,  and  besides 
which  many  young  men  have  nothing  else  which  they  can  give, 


opinions  are  certainly  just  objects  of  animadversion,  I  can  only  express  the  wish, 
that  they  both  might  be  transported,  at  least  for  a  while,  to  a  land  of  free  institu- 
tions, where  education  is  universal,  —  and  learn  there,  that  education,  from  its 
high  moral  influences,  may  have  other  uses  than  that  of  putting  money  into  men's 
pockets ;  and  that,  where  the  road  of  advancement  and  promotion  is  freely  and 
equally  open  to  all,  even  the  humblest  in  the  community  may  ascend  to  a  noble- 
ness of  merit,  and  character,  and  intellectual  elevation,  before  which  the  tinsel 
splendor  of  coronets,  and  mitres,  and  maces,  becomes  dim,  and  they  are  seen  in 
their  proper  character,  as  mere  baubles  for  groM^n-up  children. 


AGRICULTURAL     EDUCATION.  197 

—  their  own  personal  labor,  —  a  great  point  will  be  gained  ;  and 
the  price  itself  will  be  an  efficient  instrument  of  their  improvement. 
I  believe  this  can  be  done ;  that  is,  upon  an  adequate  extent  of 
land  favorably  situated,  by  an  amount  of  labor  which  shall  not 
interfere  with  their  intellectual  improvement,  but,  by  conducing 
to  their  health,  and  by  demonstrating  the  practical  application 
of  the  principles  and  lessons  which  they  are  taught,  will  most 
efficiently  further  this  improvement,  tl\e  pupils  themselves  may 
be  comfortably  sustained,  and  their  instruction  paid  for.  The 
school  at  Glasnevin  certainly  has  gone  far  towards  establishing 
this  point.  If  this  is  too  much  to  be  expected,  and  the  fees  for 
instruction  are  to  be  paid  in  money,  yet  it  will  be  a  great 
object  gained,  if  the  labor  of  the  pupils  provides  for  their  sub- 
sistence, and  pays'  a  fair  rent  for  the  land. 

I  subjoin  the  following  extracts  from  the  letters  addressed  to 
me  by  the  intelligent  manager  of  the  establishment,  Mr.  Thomas 
Skilling.  ]  '        .  ■• 

"I  send  you  copies  of  my  profit  and  loss  account  on  the 
transactions  of  the  farm  during  the  last  two  years,  ending  the 
31st  March,  1844  The  annual  accounts  and  amount  for  the 
previous  three  years,  from  1839,  are  somewhat  similar,  with  this 
difference,  that,  notwithstanding  the  yearly  reduction  in  the  price 
of  farm  produce  during  the  said  time,  there  have  been  increased 
profits,  from  the  increased  products  of  the  land,  of  course  from 
high  cultivation  and  fertility.  The  profits  of  last  year  would 
have  been  very  considerable  indeed,  had  I  not  suffered  so  much 
by  the  fatal  disease  among  my  cattle.  This  year  I  expect  to 
realize  a  handsome  sum,  and  you  will  recollect  that  these  profits 
are  exclusive  of  the  keep  of  my  house  and  family  in  all  kinds  of 
farm  produce." 

''  From  what  you  will  have  seen  and  heard  here,  you  will 
perceive  that  my  system  aims  to  show  what  land  is  capable  of 
producing,  when  properly  cultivated  and  managed;  the  great- 
est quantity  of  produce  from  the  same  quantity  and  quality  of 
land ;  and  the  greatest  amount  of  profitable  human  labor,  as 
opposed  to  horse  labor  and  expensive  machinery.  This  1  be- 
lieve to  be  the  system  suitable  for  this,  or  perhaps  any  part  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  where  we  have  a  numerous  population 
within  small  bounds,  and  even  this  small  space  of  land  not  one 
17* 


198  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

third  cultivated,  nor  one  half  of  our  people  employed  as  they 
ought  to  be.  The  great  evil  of  this  country  is  monopoly,  and 
the  most  pernicious  and  extensive  is  the  land  monopoly.  The 
masses  here  have  no  right,  property,  or  interest,  in  the  soil  which 
they  inhabit.  They  are  the  most  wretched  of  slaves.  What 
we  want  is  a  middle  class  of  small  landed  proprietors  —  virtuous, 
educated,  and  industrious.  These  would  be  Britain's  strength  ; 
they  are  at  present  her  weakness.  I  want  the  masses  that  are 
idle  and  starving,  or  driven  into  those  sinks  of  vice,  the  large 
and  crowded  towns,  spread  over  the  face  of  the  country,  holding 
and  cultivating  their  small  farms,  leading  a  comfortable,  virtuous, 
and  independent  life.  But  our  landlords  say,  *  The  people  are 
poor ;  they  have  no  capital ;  they  are  ignorant ;  they  do  not 
know  how  to  cultivate  and  manage  our  land.  We  will  not  give 
it  to  them.  We  will  keep  it  for  grazing  bullocks  and  sheep. 
They  must  look  elsewhere  for  employment  and  sustenance.' 
It  would  be  useless  here  to  inquire,  who  makes  these  people 
poor  and  ignorant.  We  find  the  people  as  represented.  This 
state  of  things  we  wish  to  remove,  and  take  away  all  excuses  on 
that  head.  We  desire  to  educate  them,  and  render  them  com- 
petent to  manage  the  land." 


'^Account    of    the    Agricultural   Establishment    at 
Glasnevin,  Ireland. 

Dr.  .  .  .  Profit  and  Loss. 

1843.  £.    s.    d. 

March  31.    To  cows  lost, 47  14     9 

"  seeds, 279 

''  smith's  work, 4     9     0 

''  servants'  meat  and  wages, ....  44     0     0 

''  laborers'  wages, 2  19  10 J 

"  coals  for  the  year, 9     3     0 

''  turnpike   ''       " 1     7  10 

"  general  charges, 22     3  11 

''  year's  rent, 257     7     8 

''  profits  for  the  year, 120  16     8J 


£512  10 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION.  199 

Contra  .  .  Cr. 

1843.  £.    s.    d. 
March  31.    By  bulls  raised, .     15     0     0 

''  heifers   " 4     0  0 

''  pigs, 30     7  3 

''  oats, 66  18  7 

*'  potatoes, 89  16  9S 

"  vegetables, 33     1  4 

''  milk, 199     6  55 

"  butter, 54:  12  n 

"  implements  sold  not  required,      .     .  19     7  5 

£512  10     6" 

"  It  will  be  perceived  that  there  is  a  loss  on  cows  in  this  year. 
This  always  happens,  more  or  less.  A  large  quantity  of  milk  is 
required  for  the  training  establishment,*  and  when  a  cow  goes 
nearly  dry,  she  must  be  sold,  and  another  in  milk  bought  in  her 
place,  at  a  higher  price  than  that  at  which  the  former  is  sold. 
We  have  it  in  contemplation  to  take  another  farm,  of  larger  di- 
mensions, in  addition  to  the  present  one,  and  of  an  inferior  and 
different  quality  of  land,  in  order  to  show  a  specimen  of  the 
improvement  and  management  of  that  kind  of  soil ;  and  in  this 
case  the  loss  on  cattle  will  be  obviated,  as  the  second  will  be 
more  adapted  to  the  raising  of  young  stock  and  sheep." 

"Dr.  .  .  Profit  and  Loss. 

1844.  £.    s.   d. 
March  31.    To  cows  lost, 114     0  10 

"  horses  " 6     2  0 

"  general  charges, 23     8  7J 

"  turnpike, 2     7  4J 

"  implements, 6  13  3 

"  carpenter ^s  work, 0     8  0 

"  smith's  work, 3     4  0 

Amount  carried  over,      .     .     £156     4     1 

*  This  is  the  establishment  of  the  Model  School,  where  young  men  are  trained  as 
schoolmasters  at  the  expense  of  the  government  This  place  is  supplied  with 
milk  and  other  things  from  the  farm,  by  purchase. 


200 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


•'Dr.  .  .  Profit  and  LosSj  .  .  (continued.) 

1844.  £.  s.  d, 

March  31.                   Amount  brought  over,       .     .  156  4  1 

To  servants'  meat  and  wages,     ...  31  1  6 

''    laborers'  wages, 5  19  11 J 

'*    coals  for  farm  use, 2  10  0 

"    rent  for  the  year, 257  7  8 

"    profits       "        "        49  4  7 

£502     7     9  J 

Contra  .  .  Or* 

1844.  £.    s.  d. 

March  31.    By  bulls  raised, 8     3  8 

"    heifers  '' 6     8  8 

"    potatoes, 89  16  31 

^'    milk, 183  10  111 

"   butter, 32     5  2J 

"    pigs,      . 40  11  10 

"    seeds, 16     4  6 

''    vegetables, 90     8  lOJ 

"    grain, 34  17  9 

£502     7     9  J 

"  The  great  loss  on  cattle,  this  season,  principally  arose  in  con- 
sequence of  a  fatal  epidemic,  which  has  prevailed  in  this  neigh- 
borhood during  the  last  two  years,  and  carried  off  a  number  of 
mine." 

"Besides  the  real  cash  profits  every  year,  there  is  a  very 
important  advantage  gained  from  the  farm,  and  which  has  not 
been  taken  into  account :  I  mean,  the  keep  of  the  family  and 
servants  in  farm  produce,  —  nine  individuals,  besides  occasional 
visitors  during  the  year,  —  in  milk,  butter,  cheese,  eggs,  poultry, 
pork,  bacon,  potatoes,  vegetables,  &c.  &c.  This,  at  a  fair 
computation,  may  be  reckoned  at  from  £80  to  £90  more." 

"  An  addition  is  now  being  made  to  the  buildings,  to  accom- 
modate a  superior  class  of  twelve  pupils,  who  will  pay  a  mod- 
erate annual  sum  for  their  board,  lodging,  and  education." 

"  You  will  understand  that  our  farm  was  most  injudiciously 
taken  at  an  enormous  rack-rent,  double  the  sum  that  is  paid  for 


t 


AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION.  201 

much  better  land  in  our  immediate  neighborhood ;  and  when  I 
agreed  with  the  Board  to  manage  it  on  my  own  account,  and 
pay  all  rents,  taxes,  and  other  expenses,  they  agreed  to  supply  me 
with  a  certain  amount  of  labor ;  viz.,  at  the  rate  of  five  men  in  the 
year ;  i.  e.  one  ploughman  and  twelve  pupils  —  the  estimated  \Vork 
of  twelve  boys  being  equal  to  four  men,  or  one  man  to  three 
boys.  This  I  find  very  near  the  mark.  I  would,  however, 
prefer  four  steady,  constant  men,  to  the  boys.  The  boys  are 
difficult  to  manage ;  very  ignorant  at  first,  and  neglectful ;  and, 
besides,  they  work  only  a  part  of  the  day,  from  ten  until  two 
o'clock,  and  from  three  until  six  in  summer,  and  four  in  winter. 
This  labor,  at  the  present  rates,  would  be  equal  to  about  £96, 
which,  deducted  from  the  profits  of  the  year,  leaves  a  remainder 
of  about  £24 ;  add  to  which  the  keep  of  my  family  and  ser- 
vants in  farm  produce,  which,  at  a  low  estimate,  amounts  to 
£50,  with  the  former  makes  in  all  £74  per  annum  of  clear 
profit,  after  paying  labor  and  all." 

"  The  accounts  of  servants'  wages  and  labor  which  you  see, 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  pupils.  That  1  pay  extra,  for  ser- 
vants, cowman,  and  laborers,  occasionally  employed  in  harvest." 

''My  salary  from  the  Board  is  merely  for  scientific  and  prac- 
tical instruction  rendered  to  the  National  School  masters  and 
pupils,  who  are  brought  up  in  classes  twice  a  year,  (we  have  one 
hundred  of  them  here  at  present. )  The  profits  of  the  farm  are 
considered  an  equivalent  for  its  superintendence.  This  is  as 
much  as  any  farmer  gets." 

"  I  am  happy  to  say  that,  since  you  were  here,  the  commis- 
sioners have  made  a  new  arrangement  with  me,  and  a  liberal 
one.  They  have  raised  my  salary  to  two  hundred  pounds  per 
year.  They  pay  me  for  the  loss  I  sustained  in  my  cattle  from 
the  epidemic,  the  last  and  the  present  year.  They  agree  to 
build  and  make  accommodation  for  a  superior  class  of  pay  pupils, 
and  give  me  the  benefit  of  that.  They  will  also  encourage  me 
to  increase  the  farm  by  degrees,  according  as  manure,  stock,  and 
capital  increase,  and  some  other  advantages,  which  I  did  not 
before  possess." 

"  I  am  paid  eight  shillings  per  week,  for  the  board  and  wash- 
ing of  the  pupils,  and  this  is  very  near  what  it  costs  me.  If 
there  is  a  small  profit,  it  arises  from  my  having  the  farm  produce 
within  my  power,  not  having  to  purchase.     They  are  in  general 


202  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

excellent  feeders.  They  are  at  that  time  of  life,  from  seventeen 
to  twenty  years,  when  they  require  most  food ;  and  at  an 
employment  of  all  others  most  likely  to  create  an  appetite." 

''  The  dietary  is  as  follows :  Every  morning,  except  Sunday, 
each  boy  gets  one  pound  of  the  best  bread,  and  a  pint  of  new 
milk,  cold  or  hot  according  to  choice  ;  and  on  Sunday  morning 
they  get  coffee  or  tea,  with  bread  and  butter.  For  dinner,  four 
days  in  the  week,  viz.,  Sunday,  Tuesday,  Thursday,  and  Sat- 
urday, they  get  meat ;  two  days  beef,  and  two  days  pork  or 
bacon,  three  fourths  of  a  pound,  each,  of  good  meat,  not  bone, 
with  soup,  and  vegetables,  and  potatoes  unlimited.  Two  days, 
viz.,  Mondays  and  Wednesdays,  for  dinner,  one  quarter  pound 
of  butter,  with  plenty  of  buttermilk  and  potatoes,  and  sometimes 
other  vegetables,  such  as  cabbages,  &c.  One  day,  Friday,  they 
get  fish,  with  melted  butter  and  potatoes  unlimited.  For  supper, 
every  day,  oatmeal  stirabout,  well  made,  thick,  and  of  the  best 
meal,  with  a  pint  of  new  milk  each;  sometimes  they  choose 
potatoes  for  supper,  instead  of  stirabout.  By  this  you  will 
perceive  that  they  are  good  feeders.  I  have  always  been 
an  advocate  for  good  feeding  and  good  working.  The  one 
promotes  the  other.  It  will  perhaps  be  in  your  recollection 
that  the  boys,  during  your  visit,  were  the  very  picture  of  a 
sufficient  dietary.  I  had  almost  forgotten  to  mention  that,  on 
stated  occasions,  such  as  Easter,  Christmas,  Halloween,  harvest- 
home,  &c.  &c.,  we  give  them  an  extra  blow-out ;  roast  beef, 
plum  pudding,  &c.  &c.,  with  porter  and  punch  for  those  who 
are  not  tee-totallers.  The  school  was  formerly  under  a  different 
regimen;  and  the  doctrine  then  maintained  was,  'Feed  them 
too  well  here,  and  they  will  be  discontented  with  inferior  food 
when  they  get  home.'  My  answer  was  this :  *  Giva  them  a 
taste  for  good  feeding  while  here.  Treat  them  as  human  beings, 
and  as  respectable  members  of  society,  and  they  will  not  relapse 
into  their  former  wretched  condition,  but  will  work  and  exert 
themselves  to  obtain  the  comforts  of  life." 

I  have  laid  these  details  before  my  readers  under  the  persua- 
sion that  they  will  be  deemed  both  interesting  and  useful.  It 
is  not  to  be  inferred,  in  any  case,  because  I  quote  the  opinions 
of  another  man,  that  therefore  I  make  them  my  own.  I  do  not 
know  that  it  is  necessary  here,  in  giving  this  account,  to  add  a 
dissertation  upon  the  value  of  total  abstinence ;  though  what  my 


r 


I 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION.  203 

friend  here  terms  a  ''  blow-out,"  at  harvest-homej  &c.,  must  be  a 
very  gentle  explosion,  a  mere  flash  in  the  pan,  if  we  may  infer 
any  thing  from  what  he  calls,  in  the  other  case,  a  system  of  high 
feeding.  I  wonder  what  a  Vermonter  or  a  Connecticut  River 
boy  would  think,  to  be  cautioned  against  excess  and  indulgence 
over  buttermilk  and  potatoes  for  dinner,  and  oatmeal  stirabout, 
or  hasty  pudding,  for  supper ;  and  whether  he  would  not  be  a 
little  surprised  to  hear  a  dinner  of  roast  beef  and  plum  pudding 
spoken  of  only  as  a  feast  for  state  occasions,  which  he  feels  that 
he  can  command  every  week  at  his  pleasure.  I  give  it,  however, 
as  a  picture  of  manners,  which,  while  it  conveys  a  useful  lesson 
in  the  wholesome  example  of  sobriety  which  it  exhibits,  may  at 
the  same  time  impart  not  an  unseasonable  admonition  of  an 
extravagance  with  which  many  of  us  are  justly  chargeable,  and 
of  which,  accompanied  as  it  too  often  is  even  by  ungrateful 
complaints,  we  have  good  reason  to  be  ashamed.  I  am  neither 
an  advocate  for  high  nor  for  low  feeding,  but  for  that  which  is 
plain  and  sufficient.  It  is  certainly  a  fault  with  some  of  our 
laboring  people,  that  they  expend,  in  the  indulgences  of  the 
table,  too  much  of  their  hard  earnings  ;  and  it  might  silence  some 
of  the  repinings  which  are  occasionally  heard,  even  in  the  midst 
of  comparative  plenty,  if  they  could  see,  as  I  have  seen,  the 
habitations  of  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands,  where  the  sole 
and  whole  diet,  for  men,  women,  and  children,  three  hundred 
and  sixty-four  days  out  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five,  is 
potatoes  and  water,  and  by  no  means  always  enough  of  that. 

2.    TEMPLEMOYLE   AGRICULTURAL   SCHOOL. 

The  next  agricultural  school  which  I  visited  was  that  of 
Templemoyle,  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  not  very  far  from 
Londonderry.  In  point  of  situation,  it  is  not  easy  to  find  a 
place  more  picturesque  and  beautiful.  The  soil,  however,  is  of 
a  hard  and  rather  unfertile  character,  but  not  the  less  favorable 
for  agricultural  experiments.  The  farm  consists  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-two  acres,  and  afl'ords  opportunities  for  experiments 
in  draining,  in  the  effects  of  various  manures,  and  the  common 
operations  of  ploughing  and  cultivation,  and  especially  in  the 
adaptation  of  the  crops,  and  the  mode  of  cultm-e,  to  the  climate, 
soil,  and  situation. 


204  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

The  farm  is  under  two  diflferent  rotations  of  crops ;  one  part 
being  under  the  five-<;ourse  rotation,  the  other  under  what  is 
deemed  the  four-shift.     The  five-course  system  of  cropping  is, 

First   year ;  oats  after  pasture : 

Second  "       turnips,   potatoes,   vetches,  beans,    or  flax  with 

manure : 
Third     "       wheat,  barley,  or  oats,   sown   with   clover  and 

grasses  : 
Fourth  "       clover  for  soiling,  or  hay  : 
Fifth      '^       pasture. 

The  four-crop  rotation  is  the  same,  with  the  exception  of  the 
fifth  year  in  pasture. 

The  department  for  in-door  instruction  consists  of  a  head  and 
an  assistant  teacher ;  and  the  course  of  instruction  embraces 
spelling,  reading,  grammar,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography, 
book-keeping,  as  applicable  both  to  commercial  and  agricultural 
accounts,  geometry,  algebra,  trigonometry,  with  its  application 
to  heights  and  distances,  and  land-surveying,  together  with  the 
use  of  the  water-level,  the  theodolite,  and  chain. 

The  agricultural  department  is  intrusted  to  an  experienced 
and  skilful  farmer,  a  native  of  Scotland,  who  has  under  him  an 
assistant,  a  gardener,  and  ploughman. 

Of  the  pupils,  the  one  half  are  at  their  studies  in  the  house, 
while  the  others  are  pursuing  their  agricultural  instruction  out 
of  doors.  This  is  the  arrangement  for  the  morning.  In  the 
afternoon,  the  arrangements  are  such  that  those  in  school  in  the 
morning  are  at  work  in  the  field  in  their  turn. 

The  garden  and  nursery  are  objects  of  study  and  practice,  and 
the  lessons  received  in  the  house,  in  surveying  and  mapping,  are 
applied  in  the  field.  Oral  instruction  and  lectures  are  given  in 
their  proper  place  and  time. 

The  buildings  aff'ord  the  necessary  accommodations  of  school- 
rooms, dining-hall,  and  sleeping  apartments,  and  they  furnish 
accommodations  for  seventy-six  pupils.  So  far  as  I  observed, 
there  was  no  provision  whatever  for  luxury  or  indulgence,  and 
the  fittings  up  were  of  the  plainest  description.  One  of  the 
regulations  of  the  school  requires  the  pupils  to  wash  their  hands 
and  faces  before  business  in  the  morning,  on   returning  from 


AGRICULTURAL     EDUCATION.  205 

labor,  and  after  dinner.     I  had  my  doubts  whether  some  of  the 
pupils,  whom  I  saw.  did  it  much  oftener  than  this. 

On  Sundays,  the  pupils  are  required  to  attend  their  respective 
places  of  worship,  accompanied  by  their  instructors  or  mon- 
itors ,*  and  it  is  earnestly  recommended  to  them  to  employ  the 
remainder  of  the  day  in  reading  the  Word  of  God,  and  such 
other  devotional  exercises  as  their  respective  ministers  may 
point   out. 

This  is  a  very  commendable  liberality,  and  rather  remarkable " 
in  a  country,  —  I  speak  of  England  as  well  as  Ireland,  — where 
the  first  principles  of  religious  liberty  are  not  universally  under- 
stood, and  where  men  of  all  parties  seem  quite  as  tenacious  of 
their  religious  differences  as  of  their  moral  duties.  While  no 
reasonable  effort  should  be  spared,  in  places  of  education,  to 
instil  and  maintain  in  the  youthful  mind  a  profound  and  habitual 
sense  of  religious  duty,  nothing  can  be  more  unwarrantable  than 
to  take  advantage  of  the  influence  which  such  places  afford,  to 
enforce  the  principles  or  peculiar  practices  of  a  sect  or  party. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  learn  the  general  regulations  of  the 
school,  which  the  intelligent  principal  was  kind  enough  to  give 
me  in  a  printed  form. 

1.  As  the  great  object  is  to  make  the  boys  practical  farmers, 
one  half  of  them  will  be  at  all  times  on  the  farm,  where  they 
will  be  employed  in  manual  labor,  and  receive  from  the  head 
farmer  such  instructions,  reasons,  and  explanations,  as  will 
render  the  mode  of  proceeding,  in  all  the  various  operations 
performed  on  the  farm,  sufficiently  intelligible  to  them.  Every 
pupil  is  to  be  made  a  ploughman,  and  taught,  not  only  how  to 
use,  but  how  to  settle  the  plough-irons  for  every  soil  and  work, 
and  to  be  instructed  and  made  acquainted  with  the  purpose  and 
practical  management  of  every  other  implement  generally  used. 
And  all  are  to  be  kept  closely  to  their  work,  either  by  the  head 
farmer  or  his  assistant,  or,  in  their  unavoidable  absence,  by  the 
monitor  placed  in  charge  of  them. 

2.  Their  attention  is  to  be  drawn  to  stock  of  all  kinds,  and  to 
the  particular  points  which  denote  them  to  be  good,  bad,  indif- 
ferent, hardy,  delicate,  good  feeders,  good  milkers,  &c. 

3.  At  the  proper  season  of  the  year,  the  attention  of  the  boys 
is  to  be  directed  to  the  making  and  repairing  of  fences,  that  they 

18 


206  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

may  know  both  how  to  make  a  new  one,  and,  what  is  of  great 
advantage,  how  to  repair  and  make  permanent  those  of  many 
years'  standing.* 

4.  The  head  farmer  will  deliver  evening  lectures  to  the  pupils 
on  the  theory  and  practice  of  agriculture,  explaining  his  reasons 
for  adopting  any  crop,  or  any  particular  rotation  of  crops,  as  well 
as  the  most  suitable  soil  and  the  most  approved  modes  of  cultiva- 
ting for  each  ;  the  proper  management  and  treatment  of  working, 
feeding,  and  dairy  stock ;  the  most  approved  breeds,  and  their 
adaptation  to  different  soils.  He  will  point  out  the  best  method 
of  reclaiming,  draining,  and  improving  land ;  and  will  direct 
attention  to  the  most  recent  inventions  in  agricultural  imple- 
ments, detailing  the  respective  merits  of  each. 

5.  After  the  boys  have  been  taught  to  look  at  stock  on  a  farm 
with  a  farmer's  eye,  the  committee  propose  that  they  should  in 
rotation  attend  the  head  farmer  to  fairs  and  markets,  in  order  to 
learn  how  to  buy  and  sell  stock.  At  the  same  time,  the  com- 
mittee expect  the  head  farmer  will  make  his  visits  to  fairs  as 
few  as  possible,  as  his  attention  to  the  pupils  of  the  establish- 
ment is  always  required,  and  he  should  therefore  be  as  seldom  as 
possible  absent  from  Templemoyle. 

An  annual  examination  of  the  school  is  held  before  the  com- 
mittee and  subscribers,  and  conducted  by  examiners  totally 
independent  of  the  school.  The  examination  is  attended  by  the 
leading  gentlemen  in  the  neighborhood,  and  many  of  these  take 
a  part  in  the  examination,  by  either  asking  or  suggesting  ques- 
tions—  a  practice  which  is  deserving  of  recommendation,  as 
adapted  to  give  additional  value  and  dignity  to  the  exam- 
ination. 

Such  are  some  of  the  principal  regulations  of  the  school, 
which  I  have  copied,  that  its  management  might  be  fully 
understood. 

Pupils,  in  order  to  be  admitted,  must  be  nominated  by  an 
annual  subscriber,  paying  two  pounds  for  the  first  pupil,  and  one 


*  This,  of  course,  applies  principally  to  live  fences,  or  hedges.  It  could  at 
present  have  little  pertinency  to  the  United  States,  where  certainly  there  is  very 
little  mystery  in  making  the  fences,  and  as  little  labor  expended  in  keeping  them 
in  repair. 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION.  207 

for  each  additional  pupil.  The  school  was  established  under 
the  auspices  of  a  society  in  1827,  and  the  whole  number 
educated,  since  its  foundation,  is  four  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven. 

The  terms  for  boarding,  lodging,  tuition,  and  washing,  are 
ten  pounds,  or  fifty  dollars,  a  year,  payable  quarterly,  in  advance. 
It  may  be  interesting  to  see  the  dietary  of  the  school,  which  I 
subjoin :  — 

Breakfast.  Eleven  ounces  of  oatmeal,  made  into  stirabout , 
one  pint  of  sweet  milk. 

Dinner.  Sunday.  Three  quarters  of  a  pound  of  beef  stewed 
with  pepper  and  onions,  or  one  half  pound  corned  beef,  with 
cabbage,  and  three  and  one  half  pounds  potatoes. 

Monday.  One  half  pound  pickled  beef,  three  and  one  half 
pounds  potatoes,  and  one  pint  of  buttermilk. 

Tuesday.  Broth  made  of  one  half  pound  of  beef,  with 
leeks,  cabbage,  and  parsley,  and  three  and  a  half  pounds  of 
potatoes. 

Wednesday.  Two  ounces  of  butter,  eight  ounces  of  oatmeal 
made  into  bread,  three  and  a  half  pounds  of  potatoes,  and  one 
pint  of  sweet  milk. 

Thursday.  Half  a  pound  of  pickled  beef,  with  cabbage  or 
turnips,  and  three  and  a  half  pounds  of  potatoes. 

Friday.  Two  ounces  of  butter,  eight  ounces  of  wheatmeal 
made  into  bread,  and  one  pint  of  sweet  milk  or  fresh  buttermilk ; 
three  and  a  half  pounds  of  potatoes. 

Saturday.  Two  ounces  of  butter,  one  pound  of  potatoes 
mashed,  eight  ounces  of  wheatmeal  made  into  bread,  two  and  a 
half  pounds  of  potatoes,  one  pint  of  buttermilk. 

Supper.  In  summer,  flummery  made  of  one  pound  of  oatmeal, 
and  one  pint  of  sweet  milk.  In  winter,  three  and  a  half  pounds 
of  potatoes,  and  one  pint  of  buttermilk  or  sweet  milk. 

In  lodging,  the  same  system  is  strictly  followed  :  the  beds, 
bed-clothing,  and  all  other  necessary  articles,  being  simple, 
though  clean,  and  therefore  within  the  reach  of  any  industrious 
peasant.  A  proper  degree  of  exercise  is  provided  for  by  the 
distribution  of  hours  into  field  and  home  occupation,  so  that 
each  pupil  is,  in  fine  weather,  half  the  day  in  the  open  air,  as 
explained  by  the  following  table :  — 


208  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

''Work  and  /School   Table,  from  the  20th   March  to  the  23(^ 

September. 

Boys  divided  into  two  equal  divisions,  A  and  B. 

Hours.  At  Work.  At  ScUooL 

5J.    All  rise. 

6—8 A,  ......     B. 

8-— 9.     Breakfast. 

9—1 A, B. 

1 — 2>.     Dinner  and  play. 

2—6 B, A. 

6—7.     Play. 

7 — 9.     Prepare  lessons  for  next  day. 
9.     To  bed. 

"  On  Tuesday,  B  commences  with  work  in  the  morning,  and 
A  with  school,  and  so  on,  shifting  upon  alternate  days." 

The  establishment  was  purchased  for  a  term  of  years,  and  the 
buildings  erected  by  private  subscription,  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  shares,  at  £25  each,  and  by  the  liberal  donations  of 
several  useful  societies  and  associations.  The  yearly  expen- 
diture is  nearly  met  by  the  pay  of  the  pupils,  and  the  produce  of 
the  farm,  beyond  what  goes  to  the  support  of  the  pupils.  The 
annual  rent  paid  for  the  farm  is  put  down  at  £80,  which  would 
be  less  than  ten  shillings  per  acre  for  the  land,  and,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  school  at  Glasnevin,  no  charge  is  made  for  interest 
on  the  stock  invested. 

The  copy  of  the  accounts  of  the  establishment,  for  1841  to 
1842,  was  given  me  by  the  superintendent,  —  some  items  from 
which  will,  I  think,  afford  gratification  to  my  readers. 

House,   &c. 
Salaries  and  Servants^   Wa^es. 


"^o 


£.    s.  d. 

Head  master,.     .     .  50     0  0 

Second  master,  .     .  20  12  0 

Head  farmer, .     .     .  81  16  0 


£.    s.    d. 
Matron,      ....  20     0     0 


Gardener,  ....  17     0     0 
Servants,    ....  17     5     0 


AGRICULTURAL     EDUCATION. 

Provisions. 


Groceries,    .     .     . 

Beef, 

Candles  and  soap. 
Potatoes,     .     .     . 


£.    s.  d. 

0  17  10 

122     4  11} 

16  10  11} 

46     4  6 


Fish, 

Salt, 

Wine  and  beer  for 
examination,  .     . 


£.  s. 
5  17 
0  17 


209 


d. 
11 
6} 


4     7     6 


The  reason  for  the  salary  of  the  farmer  being  so  much  larger 
than  that  of  the  masters,  is  because,  I  presume,  he  provides  for 
himself,  whereas  they  live  with  the  pupils.  The  charge  for 
groceries  is  remarkable  for  its  small  amount.  With  us,  the  ex- 
pense of  tea,  coffee,  sugar,  &c.,  is  considerable,  even  in  the  hum- 
blest families.  I  begrudge  no  man  any  of  the  comforts  of  life  ; 
but  it  is  obvious  that  these  must  be  classed  among  luxuries, 
contributing  nothing  to  our  strength  and  subsistence.  In  this 
case,  it  seems  well  worthy  of  reflection,  how  much  is  to  be 
gained  by  a  rigid  economy,  and  how  wise  is  the  example  of  self- 
denial,  when,  by  cutting  ofl*  the  superfluities  of  mere  personal 
indulgence,  we  secure  the  enduring  and  inestimable  treasures  of 
the  mind. 

The  farm  and  garden  seemed  very  well  managed,  and  in  good 
order.  Various  experiments  were  being  made,  in  the  vicinity  of 
each  other,  upon  diff'erent  manures ;  but  the  results  are  not  yet  so 
fully  obtained  as  to  afford  grounds  for  confident  practice.  The 
nitrates  of  soda  and  of  potash  upon  graiss,  at  the  rate  of  about 
one  hundred  weight  to  an  English  acre,  gave  a  considerable  in- 
crease of  grass  over  land  which  was  not  manured,  but  not  suffi- 
cient to  pay  the  expense  of  the  application.  Whether  the  effects 
of  the  application  will  last  more  than  a  year,  remains  to  be  de- 
termined.    The  second  crop  showed  no  benefit. 

Fifty-two  diiferent  varieties  of  wheat  have  been  experimented 
upon  by  the  pupils,  besides  several  varieties  of  barley  and  oats. 
Specimens  of  the  various  products,  prepared  in  a  form  to  be  par- 
tially compared  with  each  other,  were  exhibited  at  the  annual 
examination.  These  are  certainly  most  useful  lessons  for  the 
pupils.  The  practice  of  thorough-draining  and  subsoiling  has 
been  fully  tested  upon  the  farm ;  and  it  is  stated  that,  on  the 
land  thus  treated,  the  crops  have  been  augmented  full  one  third, 
besides  the  increased  facility  given  to  the  cultivation  of  the  land 
and  the  harvesting  of  the  crops. 
18* 


2J0  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

The  frugality  and  excellent  economy  manifest  in  all  the  ar- 
rangements at  Templemoyle,  are  much  to  be  commended. 
*'  They  discourage  the  admission  to  the  school  of  lads  from  Eng- 
land, especially  because  the  diet  has  not  been  usually  found  as 
well  adapted  to  English  as  to  Irish  habits."  In  my  opinion,  it  is 
much  to  the  credit  of  the  Irish  to  be  satisfied  and  contented  with 
a  meagre  diet.  To  a  large  portion  of  the  Irish  peasantry,  it 
must  be  a  paradise  to  get  even  a  sufficiency  of  food  to  keep 
their  waistbands  from  a  most  melancholy  collapse. 

This  institution  has  already  done  much  good.  In  1843,  about 
sixteen  years  after  its  commencement,  it  was  ascertained  that 
most  of  the  young  men  who  had  received  its  benefits  were  settled 
in  respectable  and  useful  conditions  of  life.  But,  according 
to  the  present  course  of  studies,  the  food  for  the  mind  is  almost 
as  simple  and  restricted  as  that  for  the  body.  The  studies 
pursued  should  be  greatly  extended ;  and  as  the  principal 
expenses  are  already  incurred,  and  the  fixtures,  both  for  the 
school  and  the  farm,  are  to  a  great  degree  complete,  the  ad- 
ditional cost  for  providing  instruction,  more  especially  in  various 
branches  of  natural  science,  would  not  be  large. 

3.  BROOKFIELD  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOL. 

This  establishment,  about  twelve  miles  from  Belfast,  which  I 
had  also  the  pleasure  of  visiting,  is  an  eleemosynary  establish- 
ment, supported  by  the  voluntary  subscriptions  of  the  religious 
society  of  Friends.  It  seems  that  many  of  this  society,  in 
Ireland,  from  one  cause  or  another,  had  fallen  into  poverty  and 
habits  of  neglect;  and  their  children,  many  of  whom  had 
become  orphans,  were  growing  up  without  the  advantage  of 
religious  habits^  and  without  that  kind  superintendence  which 
this  remarkable  society  is  accustomed  to  exercise  over  those  who 
are  connected  with  it.  They  took  pity  upon  these  stray  sheep, 
which  were  wandering  as  it  were  at  large  and  unprovided  for  ; 
and,  with  a  spirit  of  charity,  guided  by  the  soundest  judgment 
and  wisdom,  they  determined  to  gather  as  many  of  them  to- 
gether as  their  means  would  enable  them  to  support,  and, 
besides  giving,  them  a  substantial  and  useful  undertaking,  to 
train  them  in  habits  of  honest  and  useful  labor,  intending  to 
make  the  products  of  that  labor,  as  far  as  practicable,  conducive 


AGRICULTURAL     EDUCATION.  211 

to  their  support.  They  accordingly  purchased  the  lease  of  a 
farm  of  twenty-four  acres  j  and  having  erected  and  fitted  up  the 
necessary  buildings,  they  prepared  for  fifty  children;  and  the 
number  of  forty  was  soon  found.  The  age  at  which  children 
are  admitted  is  between  eleven  and  thirteen.  On  account  of  the 
condition  of  the  funds,  some  have  been  admitted  at  an  earlier 
age,  for  whom  the  friends  who  placed  them  there  were  willing 
to  pay  the  full  cost.  In  sex  they  are  about  equally  divided. 
The  establishment  is  under  the  direction  of  a  man  and  his  wife, 
who  act  as  master  and  matron,  and  one  schoolmaster,  with  a 
female  assistant,  who  manage  the  literary  department.  The 
branches  taught  are  "reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  English 
grammar,  geography,  the  catechism,  and  Scripture  history." 
The  oldest  boys  are  taught  likewise  geometry  and  surveying. 
The  children,  with  the  exception  of  one  ploughman,  perform  all 
the  work  on  the  farm  and  in  the  house  ;  and  the  great  object  is 
to  qualify  them  for  useful  labor  and  domestic  service  by  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  husbandry  and  house-work.  An  ad- 
dition, since  the  first  purchase,  has  been  made  to  the  land,  so 
that  the  whole  is  now  nearly  fifty  acres.  "  The  boys  have 
levelled  about  three  hundred  and  forty-two  perches  of  old 
ditches,  which  intersected  the  land,  and  have  thus  thrown 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  farm  into  one  field,  portioned  out  into 
suitable  sections  for  a  regular  four-course  rotation  of  crops. 
They  have  also  completed  four  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
perches  of  underground  drain  filled  with  stones.  The  drains 
are  at  the  distance  of  from  six  to  eight  yards  apart,  according 
to  circumstances  ;  and  in  this  way  it  is  proposed  to  go  gradually 
over  the  farm,  as  time  and  opportunity  permit." 

The  average  cost  of  supporting  a  child  at  this  institution  is  as 
under :  — 

£.  s.      d. 

Provisions, 5  19     IJ 

Clothing, 0  18     62 

Salaries,      . 10     0 

Other  expenses,        14    2 

£9     1  10 

Deducting  the  profits  on  the  farm,  leaves 

the  average  cost  of  a  pupil  at    .     .     £6     6     9  ^ 


212  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

The  expenditure  for  the  year  in  the  family  I  shall  give  below, 
as  it  may  be  useful  to  compare  it  with  some  similar  establish- 
ments in  the  United  States. 


Expenditure  of  the  Brookfield  Agricultural  School,  for  the 
Year  ending  'Mst  of  Third  Month,  1844. 

£.  s.  d. 
Butcher's  meat,  (purchased,)  •     .     •     .15  8  0 
Potatoes,   meal,  groceries,  &c.,   (pur- 
chased,)      . 66  7  9 


81  15     9 


Milk,  10,227quarts,  (supplied  by  farm,)  63  18  4J 

Potatoes,  1,150  bushels,     .do.      .     .  42  10  0 

Vegetables, do.      ..600 

Fowls  and  eggs,       ...     do.      .     .  2  18  3 

Oatmeal, do.      .     .  31  13  0 

Wheatmeal, do.      .     .  9  13  8 

Pigs,  &c do.      .     .  23  10  9 

Fuel, 13  17  2 

Clothing, 40  17  7 

Salaries, .  44  0  0 

Medicine, 519 

Furniture,  for  wear  and  tear,       .     .     .  10  19  0 

Stationery  and  printing, 16  1  10 

Contingencies,      ........  7  3  8 


180     4     OJ 


138     1     0 

£400     0     9J 

I  add  likewise  the  Farm  Account,  for  the  year  ending  31st 
March,  1844,  with  which  the  superintendent  was  kind  enough 
to  favor  me.  The  result  is  encouraging,  and  the  good  done  is 
certain.  The  present  superintendents  and  teachers  are  father 
and  mother,  son  and  daughter,  of  the  same  family ;  and  their 
subsistence  is  included  in  the  charges  against  the  school. 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION.  213 

^^  Farm  Account  for  ofie  Year^  ending  31st  of  Third  Month,  1844. 

I^-  £.  s.    d. 

To  stock,  31st  of  3d  Month,  1843, 131  2     3 

'^  rent  and  taxes, 50  2     6 

"  cattle, 46  4  10 

"  seeds  for  sowing, 809 

^'  smith's  work  and  repairs, 8  7     6 

"  utensils, 11  19     0 

'^  farm  contingencies, 24  2     6 

''  profit  on  farm, 121  2     Aj 

£401     1    8i 
Cr.  =========== 

By  produce  sold,  viz.  — 

''   wheat,  15  cwt.  0  qr.  24  lbs.  ...  7     9     7 

''   turnips,  &c 18     0 

''   fowls  and  eggs, 12     2 

''   potatoes, 0118 

"-"•«' }tB-l      24    9     5 

By  produce  supplied  to  house :  — 

"   wheat,  25  cwt.  0  qrs.  4  lbs.  ...  12  10     2 

'^   oats,  6  tons,  11  cwt 43     5     6 

'•'   potatoes,  1,250  bushels,     ....  62  10     0 

"   pork, 20  11     3 

"   vegetables, 600 

"   fowls  and  eggs, 2  18     3 

"   milk,  10,227  quarts,  at  IK  .     .     .  63  18     4^     _    _       ^ 
'      '        ^         '         ^  211  13     6J 

By  stock :  — 

"  hay  and  straw, 8     0  0 

"  oats,  £6:3:6;  potatoes,  £1:8.     .  711  6 

''  manure, 20     0  0 

'^  cattle, 84     0  0 

"  utensils, 30     7  0 

'^  seed  in  the  ground, .963 

''  turnips, 4  10  0 

"  fowls, 14  0 


Value  of  boys'  labor  on  the  farm,  £35." 


164  18     9 
£401     1     8J 


214  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

The  farming  was  plain  and  creditable,  the  crops  good  and 
improving.  The  strictest  economy,  as  it  should  be,  was  studied 
in  every  department.  The  cattle  were  all  soiled  —  that  is,  fed  in 
the  stalls,  as  the  limits  of  the  farm  did  not  admit  of  grazing. 
As  an  exact  account  was  kept  of  the  milk  obtained  from  the 
cows,  I  was  curious  to  ascertain  the  average  amount  yielded 
by  each  cow.  Many  circumstances,  in  such  cases,  which  it  is 
difficult  to  estimate,  ought  to  be  taken  into  the  account ;  such  as 
the  precise  number  of  cows  in  milk  through  the  year,  the  length 
of  time  any  of  them  may  have  gone  dry,  and  the  number  of 
calves  raised.  Leaving  these  matters  entirely  out  of  the  calcula- 
tion, the  yield  was  equal  to  five  quarts  of  milk  per  day  to  a  cow, 
for  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  of  the  year.  This  is 
more  than  an  average  yield.  What  is  called  the  Irish  cow,  the 
native  cow  of  the  country,  is  a  very  valuable  dairy  animal,  and 
of  a  good  character  for  grazing,  but  is,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  fast 
disappearing  under  the  introduction  of  what  are  deemed  im- 
proved breeds,  but  which  may  not  be  better  adapted  to  the  wants 
and  condition  of  the  country. 

There  is  no  charge  in  these  accounts  for  what  the  superin- 
tendent at  Glasnevin  pleasantly  calls  a  "blow-out"  at  harvest- 
home  and  other  festivals;  and  no  £4  7s.  7d.  for  "wine  and 
beer  "  at  the  examination,  as  at  Templemoyle,  — an  omission,  in 
a  place  of  education,  which  will  be  looked  upon  with  indulgence 
by  at  least  one  man  in  Ireland,  who  bears  an  infinitely  higher  title 
than  "very  reverend,"  —  I  mean  the  very  excellent  Father  Mat- 
thew. I  am  certain  I  should  be  doing  a  great  injustice  if  my 
allusions,  in  this  case,  implied  any  immoral  excess  either  in  the 
teachers  or  pupils  of  these  institutions.  There  is  no  ground, 
within  my  knowledge,  for  any  such  inferences;  but  the  influ- 
ences of  every  kind,  which  bear  upon  the  minds  and  habits  of 
the  young  in  places  of  education,  are  of  the  highest  moment  in 
regard  to  their  welfare.  The  vinous  "  blow-outs  "  which  occa- 
sionally occur  at  the  anniversaries  of  some  of  our  own  literary 
institutions  might,  I  think,  be  very  safely^  dispensed  with.  But  I 
leave  the  subject  with  wiser  heads,  and  with  men  whose  deep 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  young,  and  in  the  cause  of  good 
morals  in  the  community,  cannot  be  doubted,  whatever  may 
be  their  opinions  of  the  doctrine  of  total  abstinence.  Few 
can  have   failed   to   observe   that,  if  a  person,   who   attempts 


AGRICULTURAL  EDUCATION.  215 

blindfolded  to  make  his  way  across  a  room  to  a  particular  point, 
at  first  setting  out  turns  his  feet  but  very  slightly  from  the  direct 
line,  he  finds  himself,  quite  unconsciously,  brought  up  at  a  very 
different  corner  from  that  at  which  he  aimed.  In  a  distance  not 
great,  I  have  seen  persons,  in  this  way,  without  their  knowing 
it,  completely  turned  round,  and  pursuing  an  opposite  direction 
from  that  which  they  intended.  I  hope  my  readers  will  pardon 
this  homely  illustration  of  a  point  of  infinite  moment  to  the 
young  ;  I  mean,  that  of  setting  out  right  —  what  the  French  call 
"  taking  the  first  step."  A  misdirection,  a  slight  aberration  in 
the  beginning,  an  indulgence  in  itself  wholly  venial,  may  carry 
them  on  blindfolded,  and  consequently  without  a  consciousness 
of  their  error,  and  so  without  the  disposition  to  correct  their 
mistakes,  until  they  find  themselves  at  a  result  wholly  unde- 
signed, and  as  deeply  as  possible  to  be  deplored. 

I  thought  extremely  well  of  this  Brookfield  School  as  a  chari- 
table institution.  The  course  of  literary  education  was  indeed 
very  limited ;  but  how  valuable  was  the  training  of  these  chil- 
dren to  habits  of  industry !  I  think  they  might  add  to  this  in- 
stitution, with  great  advantage,  some  of  the  useful  mechanical 
trades,  —  such  as  tailoring,  shoemaking,  carpentering,  and  black- 
smithing  ;  and,  for  the  girls,  spinning  and  weaving  ;  knitting  and 
plain  sewing  they  are  of  course  taught.  The  mere  giving  of 
money  to  the  poor  is  the  cheapest  of  all  charities,  and  in  its 
expediency  always  the  most  doubtful.  But  to  give  these  poor, 
neglected  outcasts  a  useful  education ;  to  put  into  their  hands, 
beyond  the  power  of  its  being  wrested  from  them,  the  means  of 
getting  an  honest  livelihood,  and  of  being  useful  to  the  commu- 
nity ;  to  give  them,  during  the  exposed  period  of  childhood  and 
youth,  a  comfortable  home,  and  make  them  know  that  they 
have  friends  who  feel  the  deepest  interest  in  their  character  and 
good  conduct ;  is  a  benefaction  of  the  highest  order,  — as  credit- 
able to  those  who  bestow  as  it  is  useful  to  those  who  receive  it. 
"  To  seek  and  to  save  those  who  were  lost "  and  perishing,  was 
a  mission  of  the  divine  mercy,  which  angels  came  from  their 
celestial  spheres  to  celebrate.  How  highly  is  man  honored 
when  he  is  permitted,  in  his  humble  measure,  to  imitate  the 
beneficence  of  Heaven !  When  one  looks  here,  daily  and 
hourly,  upon  the  thousands  and  millions,  in  Ireland,  England, 
and   Scotland,    of  unprotected,    uncared-for,    squalid,  neglected, 


216  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

half-clad,  half-fed,  reckless,  miserable,  suffering  children  and 
young  persons,  growing  up  in  this  country  of  established 
churches  and  institutions  called  Christian,  of  arts  the  most  pol- 
ished, of  learning  the  most  cultivated,  and  of  a  wealth  and  lux- 
ury transcending  even  the  wildest  dreams  of  avarice  ;  and  reads 
in  the  ever-turning  page  their  certain  history,  their  sure  progress 
from  the  cradle  to  the  street,  from  the  street  to  crimes  so  enor- 
mous, so  extraordinary,  as  to  make  one's  head  grow  dizzy  at  the 
recital,  and  one's  hair  stand  on  end  with  fright ;  and  from  these 
crimes  to  the  prison,  and  from  the  prison  to  the  transport-ship  or 
to  the  gallows;  the  benevolent  heart  is  ready  to  burst  with 
grateful  joy  to  see  any  green  spot  in  the  desert,  to  perceive  even 
one  brand  plucked  from  the  burning,  even  one  unconscious  or 
struggling  victim  rescued  from  the  descending  and  overwhelming 
current. 

4.    LARNE   SCHOOL. 

My  next  excursion  was  to  the  Agricultural  School  at  Larne, 
where  I  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  the  examination  of  a 
class  of  boys  in  agricultural  chemistry  and  in  practical  agricul- 
ture. This  is  not,  properly  speaking,  an  agricultural  school,  but 
a  national  school,  where  the  common  branches  of  education  are 
taught ;  and  there  is  connected  with  it  a  department  or  class  of 
agricultural  study,  and  a  small  piece  of  land,  which  the  boys 
cultivate,  and  on  which,  in  the  way  of  experiment,  the  prin- 
ciples of  agriculture,  and  its  general  practice,  are,  within  a  very 
limited  extent,  illustrated  and  tested.  The  examination  was 
eminently  successful,  and  creditable  alike  to  the  teacher  and  the 
pupils.  It  was  from  this  establishment  that  a  detachment  of 
five  pupils  was  sent  for  examination  to  the  great  meeting  of 
the  Agricultural  Society  of  Scotland  the  last  autumn,  where 
their  attainments  created  a  great  sensation,  and  produced  an 
impression,  on  the  subject  of  the  importance  of  agricultural 
education,  which  is  likely  to  lead  to  the  adoption  of  some  uni- 
versal system  on  the  subject. 

I  shall  transcribe  the  account  given  of  the  occasion  :  "  Five 
boys  from  the  school  at  Larne  were  introduced  to  the  meeting, 
headed  by  their  teacher.  They  seemed  to  belong  to  the  better 
class  of  peasantry,  being  clad  in  homely  garbs  ;  and  they  appeared 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION.  217 

to  be  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age.  They  were  examined, 
in  the  first  instance,  by  the  inspector  of  schools,  in  grammar, 
geography,  and  arithmetic ;  and  scarcely  a  single  question  did 
they  fail  to  answer  correctly.  They  were  then  examined,  by  an 
agricultural  professor,  in  the  scientific  branches,  and  by  two 
practical  farmers  in  the  practical  departments  of  agriculture. 
Their  acquaintance  with  these  was  alike  delightful  and  astonish- 
ing. They  detailed  the  chemical  constitution  of  the  soil  and  the 
effect  of  manures,  the  land  best  fitted  for  green  crops,  the 
different  kinds  of  grain,  the  dairy,  and  the  system  of  rotation  of 
crops.  Many  of  these  answers  required  considerable  exercise  of 
reflection ;  and  as  previous  concert  between  themselves  and  the 
gentlemen  who  examined  them  was  out  of  the  question,  their 
acquirements  seemed  to  take  the  meeting  by  surprise  ;  at  the 
same  time  they  afforded  it  the  utmost  satisfaction,  as  evincing 
how  much  could  be  done  by  a  proper  system  of  training." 

I  confess  the  establishment  at  Lame  afforded  me,  in  this 
respect,  very  high  gratification.  The  agricultural  studies  are 
not  made  compulsory,  but  voluntary ;  and  one  hour  per  day  is 
devoted  to  agricultural  labor.  The  Board  of  Education  in 
Ireland  have  now  under  their  control  three  thousand  teachers ; 
and  it  is  proposed,  wherever  it  may  be  deemed  useful,  to  make 
agriculture  a  standard  branch  of  common-school  education. 
They  already  have  seven  agricultural  training  establishments ; 
and  it  is  in  contemplation  to  have  twenty-five,  with  which  it  is 
proposed  shall  be  connected  small  model  farms,  so  that  every 
where,  besides  furnishing  this  most  valuable  instruction  to  the 
pupils  of  the  schools,  the  farmers  in  the  vicinity  may  be  excited 
and  instructed  to  improve  their  cultivation.  Thus  diffusive  is 
the  nature  of  all  beneficence.  A  good  deed,  like  a  stone  thrown 
into  the  water,  is  sure  to  agitate  the  whole  mass.  Its  strongest 
effects  will  be  felt  where  the  blow  is  given ;  but  the  concentric 
circles  are  seen  extending  themselves  on  every  side,  and  reach 
much  farther  than  the  eye  can  follow  them.  In  the  moral  as 
well  as  physical  world,  the  condition  of  mutual  attraction 
and  dependence  is  universal  and  indissoluble.  We  have  reason 
to  hope  that  no  good  seed  is  ever  sown  in  vain,  but  will  sooner 
or  later  germinate  and  yield  its  proper  fruits. 

These   establishments   do   certainly   the   highest   honor   and 
credit  to  the  intelligence  and  philanthropy  of  Ireland,  and  their 
19 


218  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

beneficent  effects  must  presently  be  seen  in  alleviating  the 
indescribable  amount  of  wretchedness  under  which  this  beau- 
tiful country  and  fine-spirited  people  have  been  so  long  crushed 
to  the  earth  —  a  wretchedness  which,  to  be  understood,  must 
be  seen. 

5.     SCHOOL  AT   EALING. 

An  establishment  of  a  somewhat  similar  character  exists  in 
England,  perhaps  many  more  than  one,  which  I  regret  that 
accident  merely  has  prevented  my  visiting.  I  refer  to  the  school 
at  Ealing,  near  London,  and  I  believe  there  are  others,  supported 
by  a  noble  woman,  full  of  benevolence.  Lady  Noel  Byron.  At 
this  school,  three  hours  a  day  are  devoted  to  labor  on  the  farrn  ; 
and  in  addition  to  instruction  in  cultivating  the  soil,  the  boys 
are  taught  to  perform  all  the  other  operations  necessary  upon  it, 
such  as  carpenter  work,  bricklaying,  glazing,  &c.  Each  of  the 
boys  has  a  small  plot  of  ground  for  his  own  cultivation,  from 
which  he  derives  a  certain  profit ;  and  some  of  them  had  a  pound 
or  two  in  the  Savings  Bank  at  the  end  of  the  year.  Such  is  the 
success  of  this  institution,  that  there  are  now  fifty  applicants 
wishing  to  be  received  on  the  farm  as  boarders. 

The  principal  objection  suggested  against  the  devotion  of  a 
portion  of  the  day  to  agricultural  labor  at  a  place  of  education, 
is,  that  it  would  interfere  with  the  progress  of  their  studies.  It 
is  extraordinary  to  find  intelligent  minds  overlooking  the  inti- 
mate relation  between  physical  and  intellectual  health.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  a  man  will  perform  more  intellectual  labor, 
who  devotes  a  portion,  and  not  a  small  portion,  of  every  day  to 
healthful  physical  exertion,  than  the  man  who,  neglecting  such 
exertion,  abandons  himself  in  his  study  exclusively  to  his  books. 
I  am  quite  aware  that  many  occupations,  of  a  mechanical  or  a 
commercial  nature,  may  so  exclusively  occupy  the  mind  as  to 
unfit  it  for  scientific  pursuits;  but  agricultural  labors,  quiet  in 
their  nature,  and  carried  on  in  the  open  air,  when  pursued  with 
moderation,  so  far  from  fatiguing,  refresh  and  invigorate  the 
mind,  and  prepare  it  for  the  more  successful  application  to 
pursuits  exclusively  intellectual.  The  laboratory  of  nature,  open 
always  to  the  laboring  farmer,  is  itself  a  school  of  philosophy  to 
the  intelligent,  reflecting,  and  inquiring  mind,  and  presents  con- 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION.  219 

tinually   topics   of    the   most   healthful,    useful,    and   elevating 
character. 


6.    AGRICULTURAL    COLLEGE  AT    CIRENCESTER. 

In  England,  it  is  now  proposed  to  establish  a  seminary  exclu- 
sively agricultural  in  its  character.  The  preliminary  steps  have 
been  taken,  and  the  foundation  laid  for  an  agricultural  college. 
A  considerable  sum  of  money  has  been  subscribed,  a  farm  of 
about  five  hundred  acres  has  been  taken,  and  the  accommoda- 
tions for  about  two  hundred  pupils  are  in  a  course  of  preparation. 
It  has  been  felt  as  a  serious  want  that,  while  every  other  pro- 
fession —  law,  physic,  and  divinity  —  has  its  exclusive  means  and 
institutions  for  education,  and  the  army  and  the  navy  have  their 
schools, — agriculture,  the  most  important  and  extensive  of  all  the 
arts,  and  without  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  where  would 
be  the  sinews  of  war  or  the  means  of  commerce,  or  Avhat  use 
there  would  be  either  for  law,  physic,  or  theology,  should  have 
no  place  for  the  teaching  of  those  arts  and  sciences,  and  for  the 
making  of  those  experiments,  on  which  its  success  so  mainly 
depends.  The  plans  are  not  fully  matured,  nor  the  course  of 
instruction  prescribed ;  but  the  scientific  qualifications  of  some, 
and  the  practical  character  of  others  of  the  gentlemen  concerned 
in  its  establishment,  and  standing  as  its  sponsors,  warrant  the 
best  efforts  for  its  success.  The  farm  is  taken  at  a  moderate 
rent,  through  the  liberality  of  its  noble  proprietor;  and  it  is 
hoped  that,  aided  by  the  resources  of  the  farm,  the  expense  of  a 
pupil  for  boarding  and  tuition  may  not  exceed  twenty-five  or 
thirty  pounds  a  year  —  that  is,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five,  or 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  Twenty  thousand  pounds,  or  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  were  deemed  the  necessary  capital 
with  which  to  begin  the  establishment ;  and,  to  the  great  honor 
of  England,  there  are  few  objects  of  determined  public  utility, 
for  which,  from  its  abundant  resources  and  public  spirit,  ample 
funds  may  not  be  obtained.  This  is  a  sort  of  joint  stock  com- 
pany, in  shares  of  twenty-five,  or  thirty  pounds  each,  in  which 
the  subscribers  will  have,  as  is  right,  the  preference  in  recom- 
mending pupils  to  the  foundation. 


220  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


XXVI. -- GENERAL    VIEWS    OF    AGRICULTURAL 
EDUCATION. 

These  details  must  all  be  useful  to  my  own  countrymen, 
among  whom  the  subject  of  agricultural  schools  has  been  much 
discussed,  and  where  a  distinct  proposition  is  already  before  the 
public  for  the  establishment  of  an  institution  of  this  nature. 
Under  these  circumstances,  I  shall  be  excused  if  I  extend  my 
remarks  on  this  subject.  I  shall  do  this  with  unfeigned  diffi- 
dence, and  especially  from  my  ignorance  of  the  various  estab- 
lishments for  agricultural  education  upon  the  Continent.  These 
are  often  referred  to  as  examples  of  success,  and  some  of  them 
I  hope  to  have  an  opportunity  of  inspecting. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  the  course  of  education  pursued  at 
most  colleges  and  universities  is  quite  unsuited  to  qualify  men 
for  the  common  business  and  pursuits  of  life.  Indeed,  it  would 
seem,  in  many  cases,  to  operate  as  a  positive  disqualification ; 
and  men  who  may  have  distinguished  themselves  at  our  univer- 
sities for  their  classical  and  scholastic  attainments,  are  often 
thrown  upon  society  as  helpless  and  as  incompetent  to  provide 
for  themselves,  or  to  serve  the  community,  as  children.  We  have 
small  encouragement  at  present,  I  confess,  to  look  for  any  thing 
better.  The  system  of  education  at  our  colleges  and  universities 
has  undergone  little  substantial  alteration  for  a  century ;  and 
what  is  called  classical  learning,  and  the  subtleties  and  puerilities 
of  scholastic  divinity,  occupy  as  much  attention  as  formerly, 
and  hold  a  place  in  these  ancient  seats  of  learning  so  high  in  the 
estimation  of  those  to  whom  the  management  of  these  places 
is  intrusted,  that  there  is  little  hope  of  dislodging  them.  I  am 
no  enemy  to  classical  acquirements,  as  a  matter  of  elegant  orna- 
ment and  taste,  as  a  source  of  delightful  recreation,  and  as  an 
essential  element  in  a  complete  education.  But  to  give  them  a 
preference  in  any  way  to  learning  more  useful,  substantial,  and 
practical,  is  not  to  estimate  things  according  to  their  real  im- 
portance. The  time  and  expense  devoted  to  them  might  be 
given  to  studies  infinitely  more  valuable.  As  to  the  time  occu- 
pied in  studying  what  is  called  divinity,  I  am  not  far  from  the 
opinion  that  the  world  would  be  no  loser  if  every  commentary 


AGRICULTURAL    EDUCATION.  221 

upon  the  Scriptures,  and  every  treatise  upon  the  controversial 
subjects  of  religion,  since  the  days  of  the  apostles,  were  extin- 
guished forever,  and  men  were  sent  to  the  New  Testament,  and 
to  the  simple  teachings  of  the  Divine  Master,  only,  to  learn  their 
duty,  and  the  only  elements  of  true  happiness  and  moral  improve- 
ment. A  college,  therefore,  of  the  practical  arts,  and  of  those 
sciences  which  directly  bear  upon  practice,  must  be  greatly 
desired  by  that  portion  of  the  community  whose  education 
must  be  to  them  a  means  of  subsistence,  and  who  have  little 
time  to  cultivate  the  arts  but  with  a  view  to  apply  them  at  once 
to  the  purposes  of  practical  life. 

It  must  be  admitted,  likewise,  that  many  of  these  arts  and 
sciences  are,  properly  spea^jing,  the  creations  of  modern  times, 
and  could  not  be  expected  to  find  their  place  in  schemes  of  edu- 
cation formed  in  a  remote  period.  Chemistry,  mineralogy,  geol- 
ogy, and  electricity,  are  all  of  modern  date.  There  are  those 
living,  who  may  be  said  to  have  assisted  at  their  birth,  and  have 
rocked  the  cradle  of  their  infancy.  All  these  are  intimately 
connected  with  the  practical  arts,  and  especially  with  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  great  art  of  agriculture  ;  and  we  may  confi- 
dently look  for  the  most  important  benefits  to  agriculture  from 
the  study  and  application  of  these  sciences.  Botany,  likewise, 
and  the  nature,  habits,  and  uses  of  plants ;  comparative  anatomy 
and  physiology,  the  study  of  which  may  prove  so  useful  in  the 
improvement  of  the  breeds  of  domestic  animals,  and  in  the  treat- 
ment of  the  diseases  and  injuries  to  which  they  are  liable ;  the 
art  of  measuring  superficies  and  solids,  an  art  so  constantly  in 
demand  in  practical  agriculture ;  mechanics,  and  the  construc- 
tion of  farming  implements  and  buildings ;  hydraulics,  a  science 
so  important  in  draining,  irrigation,  and  the  general  management 
of  water,  and  the  uses  of  steam,  that  wonderful  agent,  which 
seems  destined  to  exert  a  more  powerful  influence  over  the 
affairs  and  common  business  of  the  world  than  any  or  than  all 
other  agents  besides ;  the  principles  of  engineering,  in  the  con- 
struction of  roads  and  embankments  ;  —  all  these  are  matters  to 
be  learned  and  Studied,  as  furnishing  direct  uses  and  aid  in  the 
practice  of  agriculture,  and  bearing  immediately  upon  its  ad- 
vancement. These  considerations  Remonstrate  the  importance 
of  an  institution,  where  such  branches  may  be  taught  under  the 
19* 


222  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

advantages  of  competent  teachers,  and  means  and  apparatus 
adapted  to  their  ilUistration. 

A  competent  knowledge  of  these  branches  should  be  consid- 
ered as  almost  indispensable  in  those  persons  who  would  under- 
take the  cultivation  of  a  farm,  or  the  management  of  large 
landed  estates,  either  for  themselves  or  others.  It  may  be  said 
that  the  style  of  farming  in  the  United  States  is  so  wholly 
different  from  that  in  Great  Britain,  that,  from  the  necessities 
of  the  one,  we  can  make  no  inferences  as  to  the  wants  of  the 
other.  I  know  that  we  have  no  class  of  land  stewards,  or 
persons  employed  for  the  management  of  the  estates  of  other 
men ;  that  our  farms  are  comparatively  small ;  and  that  a  class 
of  tenant-farmers  is  scarcely  knowi>  among  us.  It  appears  to 
me,  however,  that  it  is  quite  as  important  that  a  man  should  be 
able  himself  to  manage  his  own  farm  well,  as  that  another  man 
should  be  qualified  to  manage  it  for  him ;  and  that  farms  of  a 
moderate  size,  where  the  farmers  depend  upon  their  returns  for 
their  support,  have  need  of  the  greater  appliances  to  render  them 
productive,  and  furnish,  upon  the  whole,  a  better  opportunity  for 
a  successful  agriculture,  and  for  an  agriculture  of  a  highly 
experimental  and  improved  character,  than  farms  of  a  very  large 
size,  where  the  attention  must  be  greatly  divided,  and  the 
management  —  the  mere  daily  routine  of  operations  —  requires 
the  most  incessant  and  absorbing  care. 

But  there  are  considerations,  of  a  more  general  character, 
which  deserve  attention.  No  one  will  pretend  that  agriculture, 
even  in  the  more  improved  form  in  which  it  is  any  where  to  be 
found,  has  as  yet  approximated  the  perfection  of  the  art.  The 
perfection  of  the  art  of  agriculture  is  that  in  which  the  largest 
amount  of  product  is  obtained  at  the  least  expense  of  labor  and 
manure,  and  with  the  least  exhaustion  to  the  land.  Indeed, 
there  is  reason  to  hope  that  we  may  presently  reach  a  system  of 
cultivation  in  which,  though  the  crops  may  be  large,  the  land 
itself  shall  not  only  not  be  exhausted,  but  be  in  a  course  of  con- 
tinual amelioration.  I  know  well  there  must  be  a  limit ;  but  that 
limit  no  one  can  yet  define.  We  know  already  that  crops  with 
large  leaves,  and  therefore  large  powers  of  absorption,  are  com- 
monly improving  crops  ;  and  we  know  equally  well  that  the 
growth  of  a  forest  upon  land,  so  far  from  exhausting,  is,  in  fact, 


INFLUENCE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    UPON    AGRICULTURE.  223 

an  improver  of  the  soil.  There  is  every  reason  to  hope,  there- 
fore, that  such  a  system  of  husbandry  may  presently  be  found, 
when,  without  any  extraneous  aid.  and  from  the  resources  of  the 
farm  itself,  the  largest  crops  may  be  obtained,  and  the  powers 
of  production  extended.  The  system  of  nature  every  where,  if 
man  performs  his  duty,  is  a  system  of  amelioration,  and  not  of 
deterioration ;  it  is  every  where  a  system  of  recuperative  com- 
pensations, if  man  does  not  controvert  or  pervert  its  laws. 

That  our  crops,  for  example,  are  not  what  they  might  be,  is 
universally  admitted.  Within  the  last  few  years,  crops  of  many 
kinds  have  increased  immensely.  A  few  years  since,  fifty 
bushels  of  Indian  corn,  to  an  acre,  was  deemed  a  large  crop. 
One  hundred  have  been  frequently  produced.  Thirty  bushels 
of  wheat  has  heretofore  been  deemed  more  than  an  ordinary 
yield.  Fifty  is  now  not  uncommon.  I  have  known  sixty,  and 
nearly  seventy,  to  have  been  grown,  and,  over  a  large  farm,  the 
crop  to  have  averaged  fifty-six  bushels.  Thirty  tons  of  carrots 
per  acre  is  the  ordinary  crop  of  a  farmer  within  my  knowledge  j 
and  I  have  on  my  table  before  me  the  authenticated  statement 
of  eighty-eight  tons  of  mangel-wurzel  to  the  acre.  I  am 
willing  to  admit  that  these  are  rare  instances.  Some  of  them 
may  be  considered  as  single  instances ;  but  it  is  obvious  that  one 
well-established  case  is  as  good  as  a  thousand  in  demonstrating 
the  practicability  of  that  which  is  claimed  to  have  been  done. 


XXVII.  —  INFLUENCE   OF  KNOWLEDGE   UPON 
AGRICULTURE.  ' 

Here,  then,  there  is  an  opportunity  for  the  highest  degree  of 
intelligence,  as  applicable  to  the ' improvement  of  agriculture; 
for  who  can  doubt  that  these  extraordinary  results  are  the  consii- 
quence  of  that  intelligence  and  enlightened  skill,  which  are 
equally  the  instruments  of  success  in  every  other  art.  But  it 
seems  idle  to  argue  this  point.  All  the  improvements  which 
have  been  made  in  agriculture  are  as  much  the  result  of  the 
application  of  mind  and  of  knowledge  to  the  subject,  as  any  of 


224  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTUKE. 

the  improvements  made  in  manufactures  or  the  mechanic  arts. 
Accident  has  produced  nothing.  The  dull,  plodding  laborer 
originates  nothing,  any  more  than  the  beast  which  he  drives. 
The  present  advanced  state  of  agriculture  as  a  practical  art,  all 
the  improvements  which  have  been  ejffected  in  it,  are  due  to  the 
highly-intelligent  minds,  the  men  of  science,  of  learning,  of 
observation,  of  skill,  who  have  applied  their  attention,  and  have 
devoted  their  time,  talents,  and  fortunes,  to  it. 

The  pioneer  in  the  improved  agriculture  of  the  United  States 
was  Jared  Eliot,  of  Connecticut  —  an  educated  clergyman,  whose 
essays  have  a  permanent  value,  and  may  be  read  with  advantage 
even  at  the  present  day.  The  author  of  the  New  England 
Farmer's  Dictionary,  a  most  valuable  book,  published  half  a 
century  since,  and  which  has  rendered  an  immense  service  to 
agriculture,  was  the  Rev.  Samuel  Deane,  of  Maine.  John 
Lowell,  who  contributed  far  more  than  any  other  individual  to 
the  improvement  of  agriculture  in  the  United  States,  was  an 
acc9mplished  lawyer,  a  man  of  science  and  of  taste,  and  as  much 
distinguished  for  his  intellectual  rank  and  attainments  as  he  was 
eminent  for  the  highest  virtues  which  could  adorn  his  character 
as  a  man.  Aaron  Dexter,  the  beloved  physician,  an  eminent 
chemist  in  the  very  imperfect  state  of  the  science,  a  man  whose 
name  was  a  synonyme  for  kindness,  and  to  whose  memory  I  shall 
be  pardoned  for  here  recording  the  humble  tribute  of  my  most 
grateful  affection  and  respect,  was  an  eminent  friend  and  pro- 
moter of  agricultural  improvement.  Fessenden,  Buel,  and  Gay- 
lord,  were  all  men  of  highly-cultivated  minds,  stored  with 
scientific  lore,  distinguished  for  their  zeal  in  the  cause  of  an 
enlightened  agriculture,  and  honored  with  the  power,  which 
they  used  with  so  much  zeal  and  efficiency,  of  conferring 
immense  benefits  upon  the  agricultural  community.  While 
even  this  Report  is  in  progress,  the  grave  has  closed  over  the 
remains  of  a  devoted  friend  to  agricultural  improvement  in  Mas- 
sachusetts—  a  man  of  the  highest  order  of  intellect,  of  a  mind 
rich  in  various  knowledge,  and  of  profound  legal  attainments  ; 
and  for  his  personal  worth,  his  public  spirit,  and  private  virtues, 
surpassed  by  none  in  his  claiins  upon  the  affection  and  respect 
of  his  friends  and  fellow-citizens.*     On  the  English  side  of  the 

*  William  Prescott,  Esq.,  LL.  D. 


I 


SCIENCES    TO    BE    TAUGHT.  2SJ5 

Atlantic,  Tull,  the  author  of  the  improved  husbandry ;  Young, 
the  eminent  agriculturist,  who  kindled  so  great  a  zeal,  and  dif- 
fused so  great  a  mass  of  information,  among  his  countrymen ; 
and  Sinclair,  as  great  a  benefactor  to  improved  agriculture  as 
England  has  known,  —  were  all  men  of  liberal  education  and 
distinguished  scientific  attainments.  Von  Thaer,  on  the  Conti- 
nent, himself  a  host  in  agricultural  skill  and  science,  was  bred  to 
a  learned  profession.  If  I  were  at  liberty  to  violate  a  rule  which 
I  have  made  absolute,  I  might  refer  to  many  living  examples,  on 
both  sides  of  the  water,  of  men  of  the  finest  genius,  the  most 
accomplished  education,  and  rare  scientific  attainments,  who 
have  rendered,  and  are  daily  rendering,  the  highest  benefits  to 
practical  agriculture,  and  which  without  their  aid  and  enterprise 
would  never  be  realized.  It  is,  then,  with  agriculture  as  with 
every  other  valuable  art ;  —  its  success  and  improvement  must 
depend  mainly  upon  the  education  of  those  who  pursue  it,  and 
all  hope  of  its  progress  must  rest  upon  the  science,  in  the  most 
extended  sense  of  that  term,  which  is  brought  to  bear  upon  it. 


XXVIIL  — SCIENCES  TO  BE  TAUGHT. 

The  Agricultural  College  at  Cirencester  proposes  a  specific 
education  in  agriculture,  and  the  cultivation  of  those  sciences 
which  bear  directly  upon  it.  Botany,  not  as  a  mere  catalogue 
of  names  and  classes  of  vegetable  productions,  but  as  embracing 
the  whole  subject  of  vegetable  physiology  and  the  artificial 
improvement  of  plants,  must  of  course  be  highly  useful  to  a 
farmer.  The  cultivation  of  fruit  and  forest  trees  is  necessarily 
included  in  it.  The  science  of  mechanics,  so  useful  in  the  con- 
struction and  improvement  of  agricultural  implements,  must  be 
of  constant  and  valuable  application  in  the  management  of 
a  farm. 


226  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 


XXIX.  —  CHEMICAL   SCIENCE. 

But  what  seems  mainly  to  be  relied  on,  in  this  case,  is  chem- 
ical knowledge ;  and  the  high  value  of  this  knowledge  it  is  at 
least  safe  to  presmne.  Confident,  however,  as  some  persons 
seem  to  be  in  the  discoveries  already  made,  still  it  must  be 
acknowledged  that  the  application  of  these  discoveries  to  prac- 
tical agriculture  has  been  hitherto  so  limited,  imperfect,  and 
doubtful,  that  we  are  compelled  to  consider  ourselves  as  yet 
only  in  the  infancy  of  the  science.  I  do  not  mean  in  the 
smallest  measure  to  undervalue  the  science ;  nor  to  disparage 
what  has  already  been  done ;  nor  to  discourage  the  sanguine 
hopes  which  some  entertain  for  the  future  ;  but  in  the  present 
state  of  agricultural  chemistry,  the  extreme  confidence  of  some 
persons  may  be  at  least  pronounced  premature.  The  application 
of  sulphuric  acid  to  bones  seems  as  yet  to  be  the  only  well- 
established  case  of  the  application  of  chemical  science  to  the 
improvement  of  practical  agriculture  upon  scientific  principles  ; 
and  this  certainly  affords  strong  grounds  to  hope  for  much  more. 
The  operations  of  gypsum  are  still  an  insoluble  mystery,  and  the 
explanations  which  have  been  given  of  its  efiects  do  not  appear 
to  be  confirmed  by  facts.  The  application  of  lime  to  the  soil, 
and  its  particular  advantages  and  uses,  are  still  among  the  vexed 
questions  of  agriculture.  Its  beneficial  mechanical  efiects  are  often 
obvious,  but  its  chemical  operation  is  not  so  well  defined.  A 
farmer  as  eminent  as  Scotland  produces,  who  has  for  a  long 
series  of  years  used  lime  most  bountifully  upon  his  farm,  told 
me  he  remained  entirely  at  a  loss  to  determine  whether  it  was 
of  any  service  or  not.  The  same  uncertainty  of  explanation  is 
applicable  to  various  manures,  in  regard  to  their  mode  of  opera- 
tion and  their  precise  chemical  effects.  I  do  not  hold  this  as  a 
reason  for  rejecting  the  aid  of  chemistry,  but  only  as  a  ground 
for  moderating  a  too  sanguine  confidence  in  its  power.  As  it 
offers  certainly  the  most  probable  means  of  solving  many  of  the 
secrets  of  nature's  operations,  and  as  in  many  of  the  mechanical 
arts  its  triumphs  are  complete,  there  are  the  strongest  reasons 
for  pressing  our  inquiries  by  means  of  it,  and  for  the  best  hopes 


CHEMICAL    SCIENCE.  227 

of  as  much  success  as,  in  the  present  condition  of  the  human 
mind,  we  have  any  right  to  expect. 

The  great  value  of  chemical  science  is  deemed  to  consist  in 
its  facility  and  power  of  analysis ;  but  in  this  respect  it  seems  to 
have  advanced  but  little  farther,  excepting  in  changing  the 
terms,  than  the  ancient  doctrine  that  all  matter  was  resolvable 
into  four  elements  —  earth,  air,  fire,  and  water.  The  composi- 
tion of  albumen,  fibrin,  caseine,  and  gluten,  and  of  each  of  them, 
is  represented,  by  chemical  analysis,  as  precisely  the  same  in  the 
nature  and  quantity  of  their  original  elements ;  as,  for  example, 
they  consist  of  carbon,  48  ;  hydrogen,  36  ;  nitrogen,  6  ;  oxygen, 
15  ;  —  but  to  our  senses,  and  in  their  uses,  they  are  obviously 
altogether  different.  Now,  chemistry  explains  the  difficulty,  —  if 
explanation  it  can  be  called, — by  stating  that  the  diflference  in 
these  substances  arises  from  a  different  mechanical  arrangement 
of  the  atoms  or  particles  of  which  they  are  composed  ;  but  until . 
chemistry  can  explain  how  this  arrangement  differs  in  the  respec- 
tive cases —  until  it  can  take  the  original  elements,  and  compound 
or  arrange  them  at  its  pleasure,  so  as  to  produce  their  different 
forms  or  substances  —  the  explanation  is  certainly  very  far  from 
complete.  It  is,  indeed,  not  certain  that  even  these  four  great 
principles  —  the  existence  of  which  is  so  well  established  and 
defined — are  themselves  ultimate  elements;  but  admitting  the 
fact,  their  precise  nature  is  wholly  unexplained,  in  the  present 
state  of  human  knowledge.  Newton,  in  revealing  the  operation 
of  a  principle  of  gravitation,  and  in  explaining  its  wonderful 
laws,  has  yet  thrown  no  light  upon  the  nature  of  the  force 
itself ;  and,  in  dissecting  the  beautiful  composition  of  light  into 
its  seven  primary  elements,  has  yet  not  advanced  one  hair's 
breadth  in  defining  what  light  itself  is.  I  know  it  is  now  the 
habit  to  believe  that  every  thing  in  nature  may  be  resolved  into 
chemical  or  electrical  agency,  the  laws  of  which  are  determined 
and  explicable,  and  to  discard  all  notions  of  what  is  termed  the 
vital  agency.  I  cannot  myself  doubt  that  every  thing  in  nature 
is  governed  by  determinate  and  general  laws  ;  laws,  in  respect  to 
whose  existence  and  operation  science  has  already  made  very 
great  advances,  and,  for  aught  that  can  be  foreseen,  may  pres- 
ently completely  understand  them  ;  but  as  yet  the  goal  is  far 
from  being  reached ;  and  human  reason,  with  all  its  illumination, 


228  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

and  in  the  hour  of  its  loftiest  pride,  must  abase  itself  in  the  dust, 
in  the  presence  of  that  Omniscience  before  which  all  human 
wisdom  seems  little  more  than  ignorance  and  folly. 

Until  Science  will  explain  to  me  by  what  force  I  move  my 
muscles  at  my  pleasure,  what  mind  is,  what  matter  is,  what 
knowledge  itself  is,  and  what  are  the  records  of  memory,  —  or  even 
afford  me  some  means  of  conjecture,  — I  may  be  permitted  to 
demur  to  her  loud  notes  of  triumph,  and  to  feel  that  there  are 
still  many  depths  which  the  line  of  our  philosophy  has  not  yet 
reached,  and  innumerable  simple  processes  in  nature,  of  daily 
occurrence,  which  are  utterly  beyond  our  explanation.  That 
there  is  at  work,  in  all  animal  and  vegetable  life,  a  vital  agency, 
Avho  can  entertain  a  doubt  ?  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  not  resolv- 
able into  the  principles  of  chemical  solution  and  affinity,  or  into 
electrical  or  galvanic  agency  ;  but  the  assumption,  in  the  present 
state  of  science,  would  be,  I  think,  premature,  without  stronger 
grounds  on  which  to  rest  it. 


XXX.  —  ANALYSIS   OF   SOILS. 

In  the  chemical  analysis  of  soils,  likewise,  upon  which  so 
much  stress  is  laid,  there  are  difficulties,  in  the  practical  applica- 
tion of  our  knowledge,  sufficiently  discouraging.  The  complaint 
has  been  constantly  and  very  emphatically  made,  that  the 
analyses  of  former  chemists,  such  as  Davy,  Chaptal,  and  others, 
were  all  too  general,  and  therefore  of  little  or  no  practical  value. 
It  may  be  said  of  modern  analyses,  that  they  startle  one  by  their 
precision  and  minuteness. 

I  shall  be  excused,  I  hope,  if  I  endeavor  to  lessen  somewhat 
the  dryness  and  dulness  of  these  discussions,  to  my  readers,  by  a 
matter  of  fact,  certainly  not  without  its  interest  to  me,  and  which 
may  bear  some  analogy  to  the  case  before  us.  Some  years 
since,  when  suffering  under  a  severe  illness  for  several  months, 
I  was  sometimes  amused,  as  far  as  it  was  possible  for  me,  under 
such  circumstances,  to  be  amused,  by  the  great,  and  I  had  almost 


ANALYSIS    OF     SOILS.  229 

said,  endless  variety  of  articles  which  entered  into  the  prescrip- 
tions of  my  medical  advisers  in  the  customary  form  of  grains, 
scruples,  drams,  and  mixtures.  So  much  of  this  article  was  for 
this  specific  purpose,  and  so  much  of  that  for  another.  This 
was  to  qualify  that ;  that  was  to  qualify  this.  This  was  to 
prevent  such  an  article  doing  too  much,  and  that  was  to  prevent 
its  doing  too  little.  One  was  to  operate  upon  the  bile,  another 
upon  the  blood ;  one  upon  the  respiration,  and  another  upon  the 
digestion.  And  all  this  was  to  be  going  on,  and  to  be  accom- 
plished, at  the  same  time.  I  confess  I  was  often  in  the  situation, 
in  respect  to  my  physician,  of  the  wondering  pupils  of  Gold- 
smith's village  schoolmaster,  and  marvelled  ^'that  one  small 
head  could  carry  all  he  knew."  I  had,  at  least,  the  consolation 
in  the  case  of  feeling  that,  as  the  surgeons  often  pleasantly  term 
it,  when  amputating  a  limb,  or  operating  for  the  extraction  of  the 
stone,  I  was  furnishing  at  least  a  beautiful  experiment  in  the 
way  of  medical  science  j  and  it  must  be  said  to  the  credit  of  my 
physician,  whose  kindness  amidst  all  this  I  never  can  forget, 
that,  although  his  philosophy  and  his  scientific  ardor  carried  him 
to  the  most  extreme  tests,  and  he  might  be  said  to  have  sus- 
pended me  over  a  precipice  by  a  twine  string,  confident  that,  if 
I  dropped,  it  would  at  least  prove  that  common  twine  was  not 
strong  enough  in  such  cases, — a  most  important  fact  to  be 
ascertained,  —  I  was  not  quite  used  up,  but  was,  after  a  while, 
enabled  to  show  myself  erect  again,  a  perfect  monument  of  the 
triumph  of  his  skill. 

Let  us  now  open  at  random  upon  some  of  the  analyses  given 
us  in  the  work  of  the  most  distinguished  chemist  of  the  day,  and 
inquire  who  has  skill  to  prescribe  for  cases  so  complicated  in 
their  nature,  or  in  any  event  what  prescription  would  suit  the 
case,  but  one  as  multiform  and  mixed  as  those  of  my  own 
physician. 

SOILS   OF  HEATHS. 

''  1.  Soil  of  a  heath  converted  into  arable  land  in  the  vicinity 

of  Brunswick.     It  is  naturally  sterile,  but  produces  good  crops 

when  manured  with  lime,  marl,  cow-dung,  or  the  ashes  of  the 

heaths  which  grow  upon  it."     [It  would  be  difficult,  I  think,  to 

20 


230  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

find  many  soils,  where  the  cHmate  did  not  forbid  it,  which  would 
7iot  produce  good  crops  under  such  treatment.] 

"  Silica,  and  coarse  silicious  sand, 71.504 

Alumina, 0.780 

Protoxide,   and  peroxide  of   iron,  principally  com- 
bined with  humus, 0.420 

Peroxide  of  manganese,  idem, 0.220 

Lime,  idem, 0.134 

Magnesia,  idem^ 0.032 

Potash  and  soda,  principally  as  silicates,     ....  0.058 

Phosphoric  acid,  principally  as  phosphate  of  iron,     .  0.115 

Sulphuric  acid,  (in  gypsum,) 0.018 

Chlorine,  (in  common  salt,)     .     .     ; 0.014 

Humus  soluble  in  alkalies, 9.820 

Humus  with  vegetable  remains, ,  14.975 

Resinous  matters, 1.910 

100.000 

"  Ashes  of  the  soil  of  the  heath  before  being  converted  into 
arable  land  :  — 

"  Silica,  with  silicious  sand, 92.641 

Alumina, 1.352 

Oxides  of  iron  and  manganese, 2.324 

Lime  in  combination  with  sulphuric  and  phosphoric 

acids, 0.929 

Magnesia  combined  with  sulphuric  acid,  ....  0.283 
Potash   and   soda,    (principally    as    sulphates    and 

phosphates,) 0.564 

Phosphoric  acid,  combined  with  lime,        ....  0.250 

Sulphuric  acid,  with  potash,  soda,  and  lime,  .     .     .  1.620 

Chlorine  in  common  salt, 0.037 

"lOO.OOO 

i 

"  2.  Surface  soil  of  a  fine-grained  loam,  from  the  vicinity  of 
Brunswick.  It  is  remarkable  from  the  circumstance  that  not  a 
single  year  passes  in  which  corn  [wheat]  plants  are  cultivated 
upon  it,  without  the  stem  of  the  plants  being  attacked  by  rust. 


ANALYSIS    OF    SOILS.  231 

Even  the  grain  is   covered  with  a  yellow  rust,  and  is  much 
shrunk.     One  hundred  parts  of  the  soil  contain  — 

"  Silica  and  fine  silicious  sand, 87.859 

Alumina, 2.652 

Peroxide  of  iron,  with  a  large  proportion  of  prot- 
oxide          5.132 

Protoxide  and  peroxide  of  manganese,        ....  0.840 

Lime,  principally  combined  with  silica,      ....  1.459 

Magnesia,  iderrij 0.280 

Potash  and  soda,  idem^        0.090 

Phosphoric  acid  in  combination  with  iron,      .     .     .  0.505 

Sulphuric  acid  in  combination  with  lime,        .     .     .  0.068 

Chlorine  in  common  salt, 0.006 

Humus,       1.109 

100.000." 

This  analysis  must  surely  be  sufficiently  close  and  severe  to 
satisfy  even  the  most  fastidious  ;  for  here  even  six  hundred 
thousandth  parts  of  a  particular  ingredient  in  the  soil,  that  is,  of 
chlorine  in  common  salt,  were  ascertained. 

''  This  soil,"  it  is  remarked,  ''  does  not  suffer  from  want  of  drain- 
age ;  it  is  well  exposed  to  the  sun ;  it  is  in  an  elevated  situation, 
and  in  a  good  state  of  cultivation.  In  order  to  ascertain  whether 
the  rust  was  due  to  the  constituents  of  the  soil,  (phosphate  of 
iron?)  or  to  certain  fortuitous  circumstances  unconnected  with 
their  operation,  a  portion  of  the  land  was  removed  to  another 
locality,  and  made  into  an  artificial  soil  of  fifteen  inches  in 
depth.  Then  this  barley  and  wheat  were  sown ;  but  it  was 
found,  as  in  the  former  case,  that  the  plants  were  attacked  by 
rust,  whilst  barley  growing  on  the  land  surrounding  this  soil 
W£LS  not  at  all  affected  by  the  disease.  From  this  experiment  it 
follows  that  certain  constituents  in  the  soil  favor  the  develop- 
ment of  rust." 

But  this  inference  does  not  appear  to  me  to  follow  of  course. 
We  cannot  deny  that  the  rust  may  have  been,  in  this  case,  the 
result  of  some  noxious  ingredients  in  the  soil ;  this  appears 
highly  probable.  But  rust  is  often  the  result  of  influences 
mainly  atmospheric.  The  fact  that  the  barley  grown  on  soil  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  removed  soil  was  unaffected  by  rust, 


232  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

while  that  on  the  removed  soil  Avas  affected,  is  not  conclusive. 
It  is  believed  that  plEints  are  subject  to  rust  only  in  particular 
stages  of  their  growth.  Now,  on  the  supposition  that  the  rust 
in  this  case  was  the  effect  of  atmospheric  influences,  it  is  im- 
portant to  know  whether  the  barley  (for  the  wheat  is  not  com- 
pared with  any  other  wheat)  growing  on  the  removed  soil,  and 
that  growing  in  its  vicinity,  were  precisely  contemporaneous  in 
their  growth,  or  in  the  degree  of  ripeness,  or  approach  to  ripe- 
ness, which  they  had  attained.  Further,  it  appears  that  the 
learned  analyst  was  not  himself  able  to  say  to  what  particular 
ingredient  in  the  soil  the  rust  was  owing,  nor  what  manure,  if 
any,  was  used ;  and  manure  always  seriously  affects  the  plant  to 
which  it  is  applied. 

"  3.  Soil  of  a  heath  which  had  been  brought  into  cultivation 
in  the  vicinity  of  Brunswick.  The  analysis  was  made  before 
any  crops  had  been  grown  upon  it.  Corn  plants  [wheat]  were 
first  reared  upon  the  new  soil,  but  were  found  to  be  attacked  by 
rust,  even  on  those  parts  which  had  been  manured  respectively 
with  lime,  marl,  potash,  wood-ashes,  bone-dust,  ashes  of  the  heath 
plant,  common  salt,  and  ammonia.    One  hundred  parts  contain — 

'' Silica  with  coarse  silicious  sand,     .     .     .     .     .     .  51.337 

Alumina, 0.528 

Protoxide  and  peroxide  of  iron,  in  combination  with 

phosphoric  and  humic  acids, 0.398 

Protoxide  and  peroxide  of  manganese, 0.005 

Lime  in  combination  with  humus, 0.230 

Magnesia,  idem, 0.040 

Potash  and  soda, 0.010 

Phosphoric  acid, 0.066 

Sulphuric  acid, 0.022 

Chlorine, 0.014 

Humus  soluble  in  alkalies, .  13.210 

Resinous  matters, 2.040 

Coal  of  humus  and  water, 32.100 

100.000." 

Here  it  will  be  seen  we  come  again  to  fractions  as  minute  as 
hundred  thousandths. 

"The  next  analysis   represents   this   soil  after   being   burnt. 


ANALYSIS    OF    SOILS.  233 

One  hundred  parts  by  weight  of  the  soil  left,  after  ignition,  only 
fifty  parts.     One  hundred  parts  of  these  ashes  consisted  of — 

Silica  and  silicious  sand,  . 95.204 

Alumina, 1.640 

Peroxide  of  iron, 1.344 

Peroxide  of  manganese, 0.080 

Lime  in  combination  with  sulphuric  acid,    .     .     .  0.544 

Magnesia  combined  with  silica, 0.465 

Potash  and  soda, 0.052 

Phosphoric  acid,  (principally  as  phosphate  of  iron,)  0.330 

Sulphuric  acid, 0.322 

Chlorine, 0.019 

100.000 

''  By  comparing  this  analysis  with  the  one  which  has  preceded 
it,  an  increase  in  certain  of  the  constituents  is  observed,  partic- 
ularly with  respect  to  the  sulphuric  acid,  potash,  soda,  magnesia, 
oxide  of  iron,  manganese,  and  alumina.  From  this  it  follows, 
that  the  humus,  or,  in  other  words,  the  vegetable  remains,  must 
have  contained  a  quantity  of  these  substances  confiued  within  it 
in  such  a  manner  that  they  were  not  exhibited  by  analysis." 

Here  it  seems,  then,  admitted,  that  the  most  minute  chemical 
analysis,  even  to  hundred  thousandths,  failed  to  detect  all  the 
latent  elements  of  which  the  soil  was  composed. 

"  Oats  and  barley  were  sown  on  this  land  the  second  year 
after  being  reclaimed,  and  both  suffered  much  from  rust,  although 
different  parts  of  the  soil  were  manured  with  marl,  lime,  and 
peat-ashes,  whilst  other  portions  Avere  left  without  manure.  In 
the  first  year,  all  the  different  parts  of  the  field  produced  pota- 
toes ;  but  they  succeeded  best  in  those  parts  which  had  been 
manured  with  peat-ashes,  lime,  and  marl.  In  the  second  year, 
oats,  mixed  with  a  little  barley,  were  sown  upon  the  soil ;  and 
the  straw  was  found  to  be  strongest  on  the  parts  treated  with 
peat-ashes,  lime,  and  marl."  [I  have  never  known  this  to  fail  to 
be  the  case  on  any  soil.]  "Red  clover  was  sown  in  the  third 
year ;  and  it  appeared  in  best  condition  on  those  portions  of  the 
soil  manured  with  marl  and  lime.  Upon  the  divisions  of  the 
field  which  had  been  left  without  manure,  as  well  as  on  those 
20* 


234  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

manured  with  bone-dust,  potash,  ammonia,  and  common  salt,  the 
clover  scarcely  appeared  above  ground."  [Here,  though  so 
much  stress  is  laid  upon  the  infinitesimally  minute  divisions  of 
the  soil,  we  are  left  entirely  at  a  loss  as  to  the  quantities  or  forms 
in  which  these  applications  were  made.]  "  The  divisions  of 
the  field,  which  had  been  manured  in  the  first  year  with  peat- 
ashes,  ammonia,  and  ashes  of  wood,  were  sown  with  buck-wheat 
after  the  removal  of  the  first  crop  of  clover.  The  buck-wheat 
succeeded  very  well  on  all  the  divisions,  yet  a  marked  difference 
was  perceptible  in  favor  of  the  portion  treated  with  ammonia. 
These  experiments  show  us,  that  a  dressing  of  lime  did  not  com- 
pletely remove  from  the  soil  its  tendency  to  impart  rust  to  the 
plants  grown  upon  it."  [But  if  the  lime  partially  corrected  the 
evil,  is  there  not  reason  to  infer  that  the  error  was  in  not  putting 
lime  enough  upon  it,  and  that  more  would  have  completely  re- 
moved it  ?]  '*  Nevertheless,"  the  writer  adds,  "  it  is  highly  prob- 
able that,  as  soon  as  the  protoxide  of  iron  became  converted  into 
the  peroxide  by  exposure  to  the  atmosphere,  lime  would  possess 
more  power  in  decomposing  the  phosphate  of  iron." 

I  shall  cite  only  one  more  example  in  this  case. 

"  4.  Subsoil  of  a  loamy  soil  in  the  vicinity  of  Brunswick.  It 
is  remarkable  that  sainfoin  cannot  be  cultivated  upon  it  more 
than  two  or  three  years  in  succession.  The  portion  analyzed 
was  taken  from  a  depth  of  five  feet.  One  hundred  pavts  con- 
tained — 

''  Silica,  with  very  fine  silicious  sand,      .     .     .•    .  90.035 

Alumina, 1.976 

Peroxide  of  iron, 4.700 

Protoxide  of  iron, 1.115 

Protoxide  and  peroxide  of  manganese, 0.240 

Lime, 0.022 

Magnesia, .0.115 

Potash  and  soda, 0.300 

Phosphoric  acid  combined  with  iron,     .....     0.098 
Sulphuric   acid,  (the  greatest  part  in   combination 

with  protoxide  of  iron,) 1.399 

Chlorine, a  trace. 

lOOOOO 


ANALYSIS    OF    SOILS.  235 

'•'  Now,  the  results  of  the  analysis  give  a  sufficient  account  of 
the  failure  of  the  sainfoin."  [But  it  seems  it  can  be  cultivated 
upon  it  two  or  three  years  in  succession.]  "  The  soil  contains 
one  per  cent,  of  sulphate  of  the  protoxide  of  iron,  (green  vitriol 
of  commerce,)  a  salt  which  exerts  a  poisonous  action  upon  plants. 
Lime  is  not  present  in  quantity  sufficient  to  decompose  this  salt. 
Hence  it  is  that  sainfoin  will  not  thrive  in  this  soil,  nor  indeed 
lucern,  or  any  other  of  the  plants  with  deep  roots.  The  evil 
cannot  be  obviated  by  any  method  sufficiently  economical  for 
the  farmer,  because  the  soil  cannot  be  mixed  with  lime  at  a 
depth  of  five  or  six  feet."  [It  requires  some  courage  for  a  man 
even  to  think  of  such  a  thing.]  "  For  many  years,  experiments 
have  been  made  in  vain,  in  order  to  adopt  this  soil  for  sainfoin 
and  lucern,  and  much  expense  incurred,  which  would  all  have 
been  saved,  had  the  soil  been  previously  analyzed.  This  ex- 
ample affords  a  most  convincing  proof  of  the  importance  of 
chemical  knowledge  to  an  agriculturist."  * 

Now,  I  think  the  strong  impression  which  will  be  upon  every 
practical  man's  mind,  in  looking  at  these  analyses,  will  be,  the 
utter  impossibility  of  meeting  the  cases,  and  of  adapting  the  cul- 
tivation and  manuring  with  any  very  exact  reference  to  the 
chemical  condition  of  the  soil ;  that  is,  of  prescribing  for  the 
patient.  I  admit  that  the  application  of  chemical  analyses  or 
tests  to  the  soil  may  be  of  very  great  importance  in  detecting 
the  existence  of  any  substance,  as  in  the  latter  case  for  example, 
which  is  poisonous  to  vegetation ;  though  even  here,  the  exist- 
ence of  the  evil  itself,  and  the  remedy,  are  left  somewhat  in 
uncertainty.  I  believe  it  may  be  of  great  utility  in  determining 
the  general  and  predominant  characteristics  of  a  soil ;  but  with 
great  respect  for  science,  and  for  the  labors  of  those  men  who, 
by  their  distinguished  attainments,  have  conferred  the  highest 
benefits  upon  the  community,  I  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion 
than  that  any  expectation  of  adapting  our  cultivation,  upon  any 
extended  scale,  to  these  minute  diversities  of  soil,  is  illusory; 
and  that  the  most  illustrious  chemist  living  may  be  challenged 
in  vain  to  prescribe  any  practicable  culture  adapted  to  meet,  with 

*  These  examples  of  analyses  of  soils  are  by  Sprengel,  and  taken  from  Liebig's 
Agricultural  Chemistry,  from  the  chapter  on  the  Chemical  Constituents  of  Soils, 
p.  208,  3d  American  edition. 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

any  degree  of  exactness,  the  cases  given,  or  to  recognize  in  his 
applications  or  prescriptions,  with  any  pecuUar  success,  the 
minute  diversities  of  composition  which  are  here  presented. 

But  suppose  the  application  made,  and  even  in  the  simplest 
form ;  what  sagacity  is  acute  enough  to  follow  it  in  all  its  opera- 
tions upon  the  elements,  either  simple  or  compounded,  with 
which  it  comes  in  contact  ?  or  what  skill  can  command  the 
external  circumstances  of  heat  or  cold,  of  drought  or  moisture, 
which  must  at  the  time  affect  its  operation  ?  No  human  skill 
has  as  yet  been  able  to  compound  a  soil,  and  say.  This  shall  be 
more  fruitful  than  any  other.  The  habits  and  nature  of  different 
plants  require  different  conditions  both  of  soil  and  of  culture. 

The  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England  has  recently 
made  a  liberal  grant  to  aid  in  the  chemical  analysis  of  the  dif- 
ferent vegetable  productions,  under  the  direction  of  one  of  the 
most  able  chemists  of  the  age  ;  and  a  good  deal  of  valuable 
information  will  undoubtedly  be  derived  from  this  source.  The 
chemical  analysis  of  different  manures  has  been  carried  on  with 
eminent  zeal  and  intelligence,  and  is  constantly  going  on,  to  the 
great  benefit,  without  question,  of  agricultural  science  ;  but  the 
extraordinary  confidence  which  some  persons  indulge  in  the 
results  of  chemical  science,  in  respect  to  agriculture,  seems  to  me 
a  little  too  sanguine,  and  the  practical  application  of  this  knowl- 
edge by  no  means  so  easy  as  has  been  supposed. 

I  am  quite  aware  that  this  may  appear  like  a  digression ;  but, 
in  considering  the  subject  of  agricultural  education,  it  was  natural 
to  advert  to  that  which  seems  now  to  be  more  prominent  in  the 
minds  of  agriculturists  than  almost  any  thing  else  —  the  advan- 
tages which  agriculture  is  to  derive  from  chemical  science,  and 
the  consequent  importance  of  making  it  the  prominent  subject 
of  instruction.  Our  expectations  in  this  matter  should  be  in 
some  degree  moderated  by  a  remark  of  Liebig's :  in  speaking  of 
the  analysis  of  soils,  and  after  having  given  several  examples, 
"  It  is  unnecessary,"  he  says,  ''  to  describe  the  modus  operandi 
used  in  the  analysis  of  these  soils ;  for  this  kind  of  research  will 
never  be  made  by  farmers,  who  must  apply  to  the  professional 
chemists,  if  they  wish  for  information  in  regard  to  the  composi- 
tion of  their  soils."  The  science  of  chemistry  has  indeed  now 
become  of  that  enlarged  character,  and  is  occupied  in  such  pro- 
found and  difficult  investigations  and  discoveries,  that  excellence 


NATURAL    SCIENCE.  237 

in  it  can  scarcely  be  looked  for  but  with  those  persona  who,  to 
eminent  talents  of  research,  and  an  extraordinary  enthu&iasm  in 
the  pursuit,  devote  their  time  almost  exclusively  to  this  object. 

A  general  knowledge  of  its  principles  and  discoveries,  and  a 
facility  in  making  some  experiments  in  it,  are  all,  perhaps,  that 
can  be  expected  to  be  given  in  the  education  at  an  agricultural 
college ;  but  it  is  desirable  and  most  requisite,  even  for  this 
object,  that  the  institution,  in  a  competent  instructor,  and  all 
the  necessary  apparatus,  should  furnish  the  means  of  accom- 
plishing it  in  the  best  manner,  and  to  the  greatest  advantage 
This  undoubtedly  will  be  done. 


XXXI.  —  NATURAL   SCIENCE. 

Every  possible  facility  should  be  provided  for  the  study  of  ev- 
ery branch  of  natural  history,  for  every  branch  of  natural  history 
may  be  made  subservient  to  agricultural  improvement.  There 
is,  in  my  opinion,  nothing  which  so  invigorates  and  strengthens 
the  mind  as  earnest  and  deep  inquiries  into  nature,  the  study  of 
natural  facts,  the  observation  of  natural  phenomena.  There  is  no 
knowledge,  especially  to  persons  residing  in  the  country,  which 
affords  so  many  practicable  uses  and  such  varied  and  important 
application.  The  man  who  studies  books  exclusively  is  always 
liable  to  be  the  slave  of  other  men's  opinions ;  and  his  mind, 
losing  by  such  restraints  its  native  elasticity,  never  travels  out  of 
its  prescribed  limits.  The  man  who  goes  himself  to  the  original 
sources  of  knowledge,  and  draws  water  out  of  the  very  wells  of 
life,  acquires  a  force  of  inquiry,  maintains  a  healthful  freshness 
of  mind,  which  grow  strong  continually  by  what  they  feed 
upon,  multiply  for  themselves  the  sources  of  knowledge,  turn 
every  object  and  occurrence  which  they  meet  with  into  an  in- 
strument of  instruction,  and  find  the  world  and  nature  no  longer 
a  dull,  desolate,  inanimate  chamber,  but  its  walls  all  over  radiant 
with  lessons  of  wisdom,  and  every  object  with  which  it  is 
crowded  vocal  with  the  teachings  of  a  divine  spirit. 


238 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


I  do  not  overrate  the  value  of  natural  science  to  the  agricul- 
turist, the  resident  in  the  country.  For  him  it  is  the  proper 
study  for  use,  for  ability,  for  recreation,  and  for  ornament. 
There  is  yet  much  to  be  done  in  agriculture.  I  believe  that 
the  quantity  of  the  products  of  the  earth  from  the  same  extent 
of  surface  may  in  most  cases  be  quadrupled,  and  that  the  number 
of  its  productions  for  the  sustenance  of  man  and  beast  may  be 
multiplied  far  beyond  any  present  calculation.  If  we  may  argue 
from  what  has  been  done  to  what  may  be  done,  the  perfection 
of  agriculture  is  yet  very  distant,  and  vast  improvements  remain 
to  be  made.  But  this  can  only  be  effected  by  bringing  vigorous 
and  enlightened  minds  to  bear  upon  the  subject ;  and  the  natural 
sciences  are  those  which  of  all  others  best  prepare  and  strengthen 
the  mind  for  such  investigations.  The  best  education  which 
can  be  given  to  any  man  is  not  that  which  merely  communi- 
cates knowledge,  but  that  which  enables  and  induces  a  man  to 
acquire  knowledge  for  himself.  This  is  what  the  study  of  the 
natural  sciences  particularly  prompt  and  compel  a  man  to  do. 
These  studies,  pursued  especially  in  the  country,  where  Nature 
in  such  a  variety  of  aspects  is  continually  offering  herself  for  ex- 
amination, give  a  vigor  and  activity  of  mind  which  particularly 
qualify  men  for  practical  objects  and  pursuits. 

We  are  to  look,  then,  to  educated  men,  to  men  of  active  and 
cultivated  minds,  to  men  accustomed  to  study,  inquiry,  reflection, 
observation,  and  experiment,  for  any  great  improvement  yet  to 
be  made  in  agriculture.  These  are  the  men  who  have  always 
been  the  pioneers  in  human  progress,  and  these  men  are  still  to 
lead  the  onward  march.  A  school,  therefore,  which  trains  such 
minds,  not  for  literary  leisure,  but  for  the  active  and  business 
pursuits  of  life,  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  in- 
stitutions in  the  community.  No  branch  of  art  or  business  will 
be  found  to  afford  greater  scope  for  the  application  of  such  an 
education  than  agriculture. 


MODEL    FARM.  239 


XXXIL  — MODEL   FARM. 


To  the  departments  which  may  be  called  literary  and  scientific, 
the  Agricultural  College  at  Cirencester  proposes  to  add  those 
which  are  strictly  practical,  by  connecting  with  the  institution  a 
farm  of  five  hundred  acres.  Practical  experience  is  of  the  high- 
est importance  in  every  practical  art.  If  it  be  true,  that  no  man 
can  be  a  thorough  sailor  who  has  not  served  before  the  mast,  and 
who  is  not  familiar  with  every  rope  in  the  ship,  it  may  be  as 
truly  said,  that  no  one  should  consider  himself  fully  competent 
to  the  management  of  a  farm,  who  is  not  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  every  operation  to  be  performed  on  a  farm ;  and,  though 
he  may  not  always  be  able  to  execute  it  himself,  he  should  know 
how  it  is  to  be  done,  and  be  able  to  determine  when  it  is  properly 
executed. 

A  model  farm  is  intended  to  illustrate,  as  far  as  the  nature  of 
the  soil  and  climate  admit,  the  best  practices  in  husbandry ;  to 
show  the  management  of  a  farm  in  the  details  and  in  the  whole ; 
to  teach  the  arts  of  ploughing,  sowing,  harrowing,  cultivating, 
reaping,  harvesting,  stacking,  threshing,  and  preparing  the 
products  for  market ;  to  explain  the  management  and  treatment 
of  all  live  stock  on  the  place,  whether  designed  for  food  or  labor, 
for  fattening  or  working,  for  beef,  mutton,  pork,  wool,  or  dairy 
produce ;  to  teach  the  whole  duty  of  a  shepherd  or  grazier,  and 
the  whole  management  of  the  stall  and  the  dairy.  These  are 
the  objects  proposed  ;  and  it  is  intended  that  the  labor  of  the  farm 
shall  be  performed  by  the  pupils,  and  its  products  go  towards 
the  support  of  the  institution,  so  as  to  reduce  the  expenses  of 
education.  All  this  is  well,  and  may  be  made  eminently  useful 
to  the  pupils. 


240  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


XXXIII.  —  EXPERIMENTAL   FARM. 

It  is  further  intended,  besides  presenting  a  model  farm,  that  it 
shall  likewise,  in  a  measure,  serve  the  purpose  of  an  experi- 
mental farm.  Besides  presenting  an  example  of  the  best  man- 
agement, and  the  performance  of  all  the  customary  operations  of 
a  farm  in  the  best  and  most  approved  manner,  it  is  designed  to 
afford  an  opportunity  of  experimenting  in  various  forms  upon 
manures,  seeds,  plants,  cultivation,  and  the  feeding  and  fattening 
of  animals,  and  upon  every  feasible  subject,  where  practical 
information  and  exact  results  are  important  to  be  ascertained. 


XXXIV.  —  ECONOMICAL    ARRANGEMENTS    AT    THE 
AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE. 

Such,  as  I  understand,  are  the  outlines  of  the  plan  for  agri- 
cultural education  designed  to  be  pursued  at  the  College  at 
Cirencester.  Its  objects  are  not  to  teach  its  pupils  how  to  labor, 
but  to  qualify  a  class  of  persons  for  the  management  of  their 
own,  or  the  estates  of  others.  The  farmers  here  are  not,  as  with 
us,  workers  on  their  own  estates;  they  are  the  managers  or 
superintendents  of  the  work ;  but  it  is  obviously  of  the  highest 
importance  that  they  should  understand  how  every  branch  of 
husbandry  should  be  conducted.  For  the  common  laborer  here, 
in  the  present  arrangements  of  society,  I  see  no  hope  of  his  ever 
rising  above  that  condition  in  which  he  is  born.  There  are 
some  extraordinary  exceptions  ;  but  they  are  very  rare.  Besides 
the  impediments  which  lie  in  the  way  from  his  entire  poverty, 
and  the  extreme  difficulty  of  his  ever  acquiring  more  than  six 
feet  of  the  soil,  and  that  six  feet  below  the  surface,  and  after  all 
power  of  active  improvement  of  it  has  ceased,  any  attempt  to 
alter  his  condition  in  this  respect,  it  is  to  be  feared,  as  I  think  I 
have  already  shown,  would  be  discouraged,  certainly  not  aided. 


ECONOMICAL    ARRANGEMENTS    AT    AGRICULTURAL    COLLEGE.     241 

by  those  above  him.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  necessary  for  me 
to  discuss  the  question  whether  such  a  condition  of  society  is 
preferable  to  one  in  which  the  laborer  is  first  to  be  served  from 
the  produce  of  his  own  toil ;  in  which  every  man,  by  honest 
industry,  may  become  the  sovereiga  owner  of  the  acres  which 
he  tills,  and  while  he  labors  he  may  proudly  feel  that  he  is 
laboring  for  himself,  and  not  for  another.  I  shall  leave  all  this 
to  the  dispassionate  judgment  of  my  reader,  content  even  that  it 
should  be  ascribed  to  the  misfortune  of  birth,  or  the  perverse 
prejudices  of  education,  that  I  immeasurably  prefer  a  condition 
of  society,  where  the  rights  of  all  men  are,  as  far  as  possible, 
held  equal ;  where  no  monopoly  of  wealth,  or  education,  or  rank, 
or  power,  limits  or  impedes  the  progress  even  of  the  humblest 
members  of  the  community  ;  and  where,  in  a  free  and  equal 
competition,  without  injury  to  his  neighbor,  every  man,  for  him- 
self and  those  dependent  upon  him,  becomes  the  creator  of  his 
own  fortunes. 

No  human  institution  is  perfect.  Every  eflfort  will  doubtless 
be  made  to  adapt  the  institution  at  Cirencester  to  its  proper  and 
valuable  ends.  It  is  obvious  that  some  practical  difficulties  will 
present  themselves,  which  it  will  require  great  skill  to  overcome. 
The  distinctions  of  rank,  which  prevail  in  England,  and  form  a 
part  of  its  constitution,  are  as  rigorously  observed  at  places  of 
education  as  in  any  other  departments  of  society,  and  are  marked 
there  by  differences  of  dress  and  of  privilege.  Will  these  dis- 
tinctions prevail  here  ?  If  thay  prevail  here,  will  they  not  prove 
inconvenient  in  respect  to  the  labors  of  the  farm  ?  or  is  the 
institution  in  no  respect  intended  for  the  education  of  persons  of 
rank  ?  I  am  curious  to  know  how  this  is  to  be  arranged. 
Many  noblemen  in  England,  of  the  highest  rank,  are  among  the 
most  intelligent  practical  agriculturists  in  the  kingdom.  Will 
they  not  desire  all  the  advantages  of  the  institution  for  their  sons  ? 
and  will  they  consent  to  forego  all  the  distinctions  and  priv- 
ileges of  their  rank  for  the  sake  of  the  education  ?  After  all, 
the  difficulty  may  be  purely  imaginary  ;  for  I  confess,  in  my 
simplicity,  educated  as  I  had  been  in  the  plain  democratic  or 
republican  habits  of  New  England,  nothing  surprised  me  more 
than  the  perfect  readiness,  with  which,  in  every  case,  the  claims 
of  rank  are  acknowledged,  and  in  most  cases  even  the  pride  and' 
pleasure  with  which  this  deference  is  paid,  and  tlieir  rights 
21 


242  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

admitted,  on  the  part  of  the  inferior  classes.  So  fax  from 
looking  upon  this  as  most  of  my  countrymen  are  disposed  to 
regard  it,  and  as  I  should  regard  it  in  my  own  country,  as  a 
mark  of  extreme  servility,  in  a  country  where  such  distinctions 
are  established  by  law,  and  make  a  part  of  the  government,  it 
seems  to  me  as  much  to  the  credit  of  their  good  sense,  as  it  is 
conducive  to  their  good  manners,  to  conform  to  them.  In  any 
institution  of  this  kind,  in  my  own  country,  no  such  difficulties 
can  arise  ;  and  it  might  seem  idle  for  me  to  allude  to  them,  were 
it  not  that  an  occasional,  and  I  hope  not  unseasonable,  illustra- 
tion of  the  manners  of  England  will  interest  the  curiosity  of  a 
large  portion  of  my  readers. 

In  the  next  place,  it  seems  to  be  designed,  and  certainly  it  is 
very  desirable,  that  the  farm  shall  be  managed  by  the  labor  of 
the  pupils ;  and  it  is  proposed  that  the  proceeds  of  the  farrn 
should  go  towards  the  payment  of  the  rent,  and  the  reduction 
of  other  expenses  of  the  establishment.  This  is,  in  my  opinion, 
as  it  should  be ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two  more 
experienced  laborers,  who,  in  their  particular  departments  of 
ploughing,  &c.,  should  be  competent  to  act  as  instructors  of  the 
pupils,  and  with  a  few  servants,  (and  they  should  be  very  few, 
for  servants,  in  almost  all  places  of  education,  are  commonly  a 
great  evil,  and  the  best  of  all  training  for  the  young  is  that 
which  compels  them,  in  a  great  degree,  for  all  personal  services 
at  least,  to  depend  upon  themselves,)  the  whole  labor  of  the 
farm  should  be  performed  by  the  pupils.  This  would  be,  of  all 
others,  the  most  eifectual  way  of  making  them  acquainted  with 
the  subject,  and  the  only  way,  indeed,  in  which  they  can 
become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  many  of  the  operations  on  a 
farm.  I  am  curious  to  know  how  this  labor  is  to  be  had ; 
whether  it  is  to  be  voluntary  or  by  compulsion ;  and  how, 
among  two  hundred  pupils,  it  is  to  be  apportioned  and  equalized. 
If  made  voluntary,  it  certainly  will  not  be  equally  rendered  : 
some  will  not  work  at  all ;  and  preferences  for  some  kinds  of 
work,  and  distaste  for  others,  which  of  course  must  be  expected 
to  exist,  will  be  found  inconvenient.  If  the  labor  is  made  com- 
pulsory, the  enforcing  of  it  will  not  be  easy ;  and  it  would  be 
difficult  to  find  the  young  men,  likely  to  resort  to  such  a  place 
of  education,  disposed  to  submit  to  any  arbitrary  exactions  of 
this  nature.     How  far  it  is  practicable  to  make  it  mercenary,  and 


ECONOMICAL    ARRANGEMENTS    AT    AGRICULTURAL    COLLEGE.    243 

to  reward  it  by  wages,  or  by  a  share  of  the  products  of  such 
labor,  is  a  subject  which  will  require  much  consideration ;  but 
this  mode  seems  to  present  the  only  alternative. 

The  large  number  of  students  —  two  hundred — to  be  pro- 
vided for,  seems  to  me  to  present  another  serious  difficulty  in  the 
case.  If  any  thing  like  a  military  discipline  could  be  introduced 
among  them,  two  thousand  might  be  managed  as  easily  as  two 
hundred.  As  far  as  concerns  their  literary  or  scholastic  improve- 
ment, the  number  presents  no  impediment  in  the  ^viay  of  their 
instruction  by  lectures  or  recitations ;  but  when  with  this  is  to 
be  combined  the  management  of  the  farm  by  the  personal  labor 
of  the  pupils,  a  number  so  large,  or  indeed  half  that  number, 
must  be  found  exceedingly  difficult  of  management..  At  the 
Glasnevin  school,  the  boys  are  regular  apprentices  to  the  farmer, 
and  their  work  for  certain  hours  of  the  day  is  compulsory.  The 
schoolmasters,  who  come  to  the  farm  for  instruction,  come 
merely  as  spectators,  and  put  their  hands  to  the  work,  or  not, 
as  they  please.  The  whole  establishment,  if  indeed  it  were  four 
times  as  large  as  it  is,  would  not,  under  these  circumstances,  be 
beyond  the  personal  superintendence  of  a  single  efficient  man- 
ager. At  Templemoyle,  the  number  is  limited  to  seventy,  the 
farm  is  much  more  extensive  than  at  Glasnevin,  and  the  labor 
for  half  the  day  is  compulsory.  As  the  pupils  are  almost 
entirely  drawn  from  the  poorest  classes,  and  are  persons  who 
must  depend  for  their  success  in  life  wholly  upon  their  own 
efforts,  they  require  no  other  stimulus  to  exertion.  At  Ciren- 
cester, the  pupils  may  be  divided  into  two  classes  —  those  who 
work,  and  are  allowed  in  some  form  a  compensation  for  their 
labor :  and  those  who  are  not  required  or  expected  to  labor,  and 
pay  an  extra  price  for  the  exemption.  Such  an  arrangement 
would  have  many  disadvantages,  and  would  be  ill  adapted  to  the 
condition  of  society  in  the  United  States.  The  number  of  two 
hundred  seems  to  me  quite  too  large,  and  unmanageable  with 
any  view  to  the  advantageous  application  of  their  labor,  if  that 
labor  is  to  be  voluntary. 

In  Scotland,  the  practical  part  of  farming  is  learned  by  young 
men  going  to  reside  one  or  two  years,  or  for  a  suitable  length  of 
time,  with  an  intelligent  and  experienced  farmer.  In  such  case, 
the  fee  paid  is  about  one  hundred  pounds,  or  five  hundred  dollars, 
a  year ;  and  for  this  the  apprentice  is  received  into  the  family. 


244  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

and  provided  for  at  the  farmer's  table,  and  every  operation  on 
the  farm  is  witnessed  by  him.  and  explained  to  him  by  the 
farmer.  In  such  cases,  labor  with  the  pupil  is  wholly  optional. 
Where  the  farmer  is  well-skilled  and  communicative,  and  the 
pupil  capable  and  interested  in  the  pursuit,  few  arrangements 
are  to  be  preferred  —  this  upon  the  supposition,  however,  that 
in  other  respects,  and  previously  to  his  commencing  his  appren- 
ticeship, he  is  well  grounded  in  practical  science. 

The  three  things  of  which  I  have  spoken  ought  to  be  viewed 
separately ;  but  I  fear,  from  the  manner  in  which  I  have  treated 
them,  they  may  appear  somewliat  confused  to  my  reader's 
mind. 


XXXV.  —  PLAN   OF   AN   AGRICULTURAL   INSTITUTION. 

First,  then,  in  every  system  of  agricultural  education,  there 
should  be  an  institution  for  the  thorough  indoctrination  of  the 
pupil  in  natural  science,  and  in  mechanical  philosophy,  so  far 
as  it  can  be  made  to  bear  upon  agriculture.  I  have  already 
treated  fully  of  what,  on  this  topic,  should  be  taught  in  an  insti- 
tution of  this  nature. 

Secondly,  there  sliould  be  a  model  farm,  which  should  be 
accessible  to  the  pupils,  and  where  they  might  see  an  example 
of  the  best  management,  and  the  best  practices  in  husbandry. 
It  is  obvious,  however,  that  a  single  farm  can  present,  excepting 
on  a  small  scale,  only  a  single  kind  of  farming  ;  and  that  it 
would  be  hardly  possible  to  find  a  single  locality  presenting  any 
considerable,  or  very  instructive  specimen  of  the  different  kinds 
of  farming,  such  as  arable,  grazing,  stock-breeding,  stall-feeding, 
sheep-raising,  and  dairying.  But  the  particular  and  careful 
observation  even  of  one  kind  of  well-conducted  farming  would 
qualify  a  pupil  for  understanding  and  receiving  information  on 
every  other,  whenever  it  came  in  his  way,  or  wherever  it  might 
be  attainable.  Stall-feeding  is  intimately  connected  and  often 
associated  with  arable  farming,  and  dairying  with  grazing.  The 
management  of  liv^e  stock,  whether  for  work,  for  fatting,  or  for 
dairying,  might,  in  a  small  degree,  be  exemplified  on  every  well- 


PLAN    OF    AN    AGRICULTURAL    INSTITUTION.  245 

managed  farm.  Such  an  appendage  as  this  to  a  school  of  prac- 
tical instruction,  where  the  pupils  might  see  and  have  explained 
to  them  the  very  best  modes  of  husbandry,  must  be  of  the 
highest  benefit.  To  these  should  be  added  an  experimental 
farm.  This  need  not  be  extensive,  and  it  might  be  connected 
with  the  model  farm  ;  indeed,  the  model  farm  might  itself  be,  to 
a  degree,  an  experimental  farm.  It  may  be  said  that  the  pre- 
miums offered  by  agricultural  societies,  for  various  experiments 
in  husbandry,  are  sufficient  to  meet  the  public  wants  in  this 
case.  I  admit  that  they  have  in  this  way  rendered  immense 
benefits  to  the  public ;  but  there  are  still  wanted  various  trials 
and  tests  of  soils,  manures,  grasses,  plants,  implements,  modes  of 
cultivation,  modes  of  feeding,  breeding,  dairying,  —  and  on  the 
effects  of  temperature,  moisture,  heat,  frost,  light,  and  electricity, 

—  which  common  farmers  can  scarcely  be  expected  to  undertake, 
or,  if  undertaken,  to  follow  out  with  that  exactness  which  is 
most  desirable,  in  order  to  render  the  results  of  such  experiments 
worthy  of  confidence,  and  lessons  for  general  application. 

Connected  with  the  whole  should  be  most  extensive  gardens, 

—  first,  for  purposes  of  botanical  instruction,  giving  the  pupils 
an  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  all  the  principal 
plants,  grasses,  forest-trees,  fruit-trees,  and  weeds,  which  enter 
into  their  cultivation,  to  the  advantage  or  injury  of  the  farmer  ; 
and  next,  for  making  them  thoroughly  acquainted  (a  knowl- 
edge highly  important  to  them)  with  the  cultivation  of  all  the 
varieties  of  vegetables  and  fruits  which  may  be  required  for 
use,  profit,  or  luxury. 

Such  is  the  basis  on  which  I  should  be  glad  to  see  an  institu- 
tion  for  agricultural  education  rising  up  in  every  one  of  the 
United  States,  where  the  condition  of  society  renders  it  Expe- 
dient, and  the  population  is  dense  enough  to  sustain  it.  The 
expensive  plan  on  which  it  is  proposed  here  to  establish  and 
conduct  such  institutions,  would  be  quite  unsuited  to  the  state 
of  manners  and  the  condition  of  things  in  the  United  States. 
In  their  economical  arrangements,  Ireland  has  set  us  an  excellent 
example.  With  us,  they  might  be  made  in  a  great  measure 
self-supporting.  The  plan  proposed  for  such  an  institution, 
some  few  years  since,  by  the  late  lamented  Judge  Buel,  who 
had  the  subject  much  at  heart,  involved  an  expenditure  of  one 
21* 


'24b  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTLRE. 

hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  might  be  said  to  have  been 
crushed  by  its  own  weight. 

Let  us  suppose  that  it  were  proposed  to  establish  such  an 
institution  in  the  western  part  of  New  York.  Certainly  no 
location  could,  in  respect  to  the  external  circumstances  of  soil, 
climate,  access,  society,  and  markets,  be  more  favorable.  A 
farm  of  five  hundred  acres  might  be  taken,  on  favorable  terms,  on 
a  long  lease.  I  would  under  no  circumstances  suifer  the 
number  of  pupils  to  exceed  one  hundred,  and  perhaps  it  might 
be  expedient  to  restrict  the  number  much  more.  Some  good- 
sized  hall  or  building  would  be  requisite  for  public  meetings, 
lectures,  or  recitation-rooms,  and  for  a  museum,  library,  and 
chemical  laboratory ;  but  I  would  erect  no  college  building  for 
the  residence  of  the  pupils.  They  should  either  lodge  in  the 
neighborhood,  with  such  farmers  as  would  be  willing  to  receive 
them,  or  other  persons  who  might  be  disposed  to  provide  for 
them ;  or  otherwise,  I  would  erect  several  farm-houses  on  the 
place,  sufficient  to  supply  the  needful  accommodations ;  but  in 
no  case  should  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  be  lodged  in  one 
place ;  and,  whether  on  the  farm  or  not,  the  lodging-houses  for 
the  pupils  should  be  under  the  constant  inspection  or  regulation 
of  the  governors  or  instructors  of  the  institution.  One  or  two 
instructors  should  be  employed  constantly  for  teaching  the  main 
branches  of  education,  and  a  competent  farmer  should  be  em- 
ployed to  manage  the  agricultural  department,  and  to  give  the 
necessary  practical  instruction.  Beyond  this,  no  resident  instruct- 
ors would  be  required,  —  but  regular  and  full  courses  of  lectures 
and  experiments  in  geology,  mineralogy,  botany,  comparative 
anatomy,  the  veterinary  art,  and  chemistry,  by  competent  pro- 
fessors of  these  sciences,  who  might  be  employed  for  these 
objects  annually,  without  the  necessity  and  expense  of  constant 
residence,  —  as  is  now  frequently  done  at  our  medical  schools. 
In  this  way,  the  best  talents  in  the  community  might  be  com- 
manded, and  at  a  reasonable  expense. 

I  would  require,  in  the  next  place,  that  the  pupils  should  be 
placed  in  a  condition  of  perfect  equality,  and  that  a  certain 
amount  of  labor  should  be  made  compulsory  on  all,  at  such  a 
rate  of  wages  as  should  be  deemed  just,  according  to  the  ability 
of  the  pupil,  and  the  nature  of  the  work  done.     An   account 


PLAN    OF    AN    AGRICULTURAL    INSTITUTION.  247 

should  be  kept  for  every  pupil,  and  another  by  every  pupil,  of 
the  labor  performed  by  him,  which  should  be  passed  to  his 
credit.  The  farm  account  should  be  kept  with  faithful  exact- 
ness, and  be  always  open  to  the  inspection  of  the  pupils ;  and 
after  the  deduction  of  the  rent,  and  the  necessary  burdens  and 
expenses,  and  some  small  amount  kept  as  a  reserve  or  accumulat- 
ing fund  for  the  benefit  of  the  institution,  the  remainder  should 
be  divided  among  the  pupils  according  to  the  labor  performed. 

Their  board  and  lodging  should  be  settled  for  by  themselves, 
without  any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  directors  of  the  insti- 
tution, beyond  keeping  the  charges  within  a  stipulated  price ; 
and  the  keepers  of  the  boarding-houses  should  be  required  to 
purchase,  at  reasonable  rates,  from  the  farm,  whatever  supplies 
they  might  require,  which  the  farm  would  yield.  A  tax  should 
be  levied  upon  the  students  for  the  payment  of  all  the  instructors 
and  lecturers,  and  the  use  of  the  library,  and  chemical  and  phil- 
osophical apparatus ;  and  likewise  to  meet  any  extraordinary 
experiments  made  upon  the  farm,  with  a  view  to  the  instruction 
of  the  school.  Whether  it  would  be  advisable  for  every  pupil 
to  have  an  allotment  for  himself,  either  for  the  purpose  of 
experiment,  or  for  the  profit,  and  in  aid  of  his  subsistence,  would 
be  worth  considering ;  remembering  always  how  important  it  is 
to  give  to  every  man  an  immediate  interest  in  the  result  of  his 
labors. 

Such,  in  my  opinion,  is  a  plan  for  agricultural  education 
which  demands  no  great  advance,  and  involves  no  risk.  But 
the  project  is  even  much  more  feasible  than  I  have  already 
stated.  Why,  for  example,  should  not  such  an  institution  be 
connected  with  the  college  at  Williamstown,  or  Amherst,  in 
Massachusetts,  or  with  Dartmouth  College  in  New  Hampshire, 
or  Burlington  College  in  Vermont,  or  the  college  at  Hartford  in 
Connecticut,  or  Geneva  in  New  York,  where  all  the  facilities  for 
scientific  instruction  are  at  hand,  residences  for  the  students 
attainable,  and  suitable  farms  to  be  had,  either  on  purchase,  or 
lease,  at  very  reasonable  rates  ?  I  throw  out  these  hints  to  my 
countrymen,  not  with  a  view  of  dictating  to  their  superior  judg- 
ment, but  to  show  that  an  institution  for  a  practical  and  scientific 
education  in  agriculture  may,  Avithout  any  hazardous  expend- 
iture, or  any  large  investment,  be  made  almost  immediately 
attainable,  and  under  every  practicable  advantage. 


248  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

A  professorship  in  agriculture  is  attached  to  the  university  in 
Edinburgh,  and  the  chair  filled  by  an  eminent  professor,  Mr. 
Low,  who  has  rendered  the  most  useful  public  services,  in  the 
publication  of  his  treatise  on  agriculture,  which  is  said  to 
contain  the  substance  of  his  lectures  at  this  institution.  He  has 
likewise  established  an  extensive  agricultural  museum,  contain- 
ing specimens  of  agricultural  productions,  and  models  of  the 
various  implements  used  in  improved  husbandry.  The  term 
required  to  complete  such  a  course  of  education,  might  be  matter 
of  after  consideration  ;  but  I  would  advise,  in  every  case,  that 
the  residence  should  be  absolute,  the  rules  exact  and  stringent, 
and  the  annual  or  occasional  examinations  as  severe  as  at  the 
military  school  at  West  Point,  so  that  an  equal  proficiency  might 
be  secured. 


XXXVI.  —  ELEVATION   OF   AGRICULTURE   AS   A 
PURSUIT   AND   A   PROFESSION. 

ViT'here  it  is  practicable,  I  would  make  the  education  of  a  high 
and  extended  character ;  and,  besides  the  art  of  measuring,  and 
surveying,  and  mapping  land,  I  would  have  the  arts  of  sketching, 
and  drawing,  and  landscape  gardening,  taught  in  the  institution. 
The  pursuit  of  agriculture  is  almost  universally  considered  as 
merely  a  profession  of  commerce  or  trade,  the  farmer  looking 
wholly  to  its  pecuniary  results.  In  a  trading  community, 
pecuniary  considerations  are  always  liable  to  control  the  judg- 
ment, and  predominate  over  every  other  consideration.  Where 
the  means  are  limited,  and  the  farm  must  be  cultivated  as  the 
only  source  of  subsistence,  pecuniary  returns  must,  of  course,  be 
the  main  object.  Where,  as  in  England,  the  cultivator  is  not 
the  owner  of  the  soil,  but  an  annual  rent  must  be  paid,  and  he 
is  liable,  as  in  most  cases,  to  be  compelled  to  quit  his  occupancy 
at  the  pleasure  or  the  caprice  of  his  landlord,  farming  must  be 
conducted  merely  as  matter  of  business,  and  there  is  no  induce- 
ment to  pursue  the  profession  as  matter  of  taste  or  sentiment. 
In  many  cases  in  my  own  country,  it  must,  of  necessity,  be 


I 


ELEVATION    OF    AGRICULTURE    AS    A    PURSUIT.  249 

followed  wholly  as  a  means  of  support  and  of  profit,  and  in  some 
cases  as  a  struggle  for  life. 

But  there  are  innumerable  other  cases,  in  which  men  have  the 
power,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  and  I  am  most 
anxious  they  should  have  likewise  the  disposition,  to  devote 
themselves  to  it  as  an  elegant  and  liberal  profession,  worthy  of 
a  mind  gifted  even  with  the  finest  taste,  and  enriched  by  the 
highest  cultivation.  The  United  States  present  not  many 
examples  of  very  great  wealth,  at  least  when  estimated  by  the 
standard  of  wealth  which  prevails  in  England,  where,  indeed,  are 
to  be  found  individual  accumulations  which  distance  all  the 
dreams  of  Oriental  magnificence.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  no 
country  upon  the  globe,  and  no  condition  of  things  since  the 
establishment  of  society,  ever  presented  more  favorable  oppor- 
tunities than  the  United  States  for  any  one,  by  active  and 
wholesome  industry,  and  a  proper  frugality,  to  acquire  a  com- 
petence, and  that  respectable  independence,  in  which,  with  a  full 
supply  for  the  necessities  of  life,  and  an  abundant  provision  for 
its  comforts,  there  will  be  found  within  reach  as  many  of  the 
elegances,  and  ornaments,  and  luxuries  of  life,  as  a  well-disci- 
plined and  healthful  state  of  mind  can  require.  I  have  seen  too 
frequently  such  beautiful  examples  in  our  country  villages,  and 
scattered  over  several  parts  of  a  land  in  many  respects  favored 
by  Heaven  above  every  other,  not  to  be  deeply  impressed  with 
a  condition  of  life  which,  where  its  blessings  are  properly  and 
gratefully  appreciated,  seems  to  leave  little  more  on  earth  for  a 
rational  and  reflecting,  a  benevolent  and  truly  religious  mind  to 
ask.  Happy  is  it  where  its  waters  are  not  poisoned  by  an 
insatiate  avarice,  nor  disturbed  and  thrown  into  confusion  by 
ambition  of  political  office  or  distinction,  or  a  feverish  thirst  for 
notoriety  and  excitement ;  but  in  a  quiet,  yet  not  stagnant  repose, 
they  reflect  every  where  the  tokens  of  that  divine  goodness, 
which  seems  in  such  examples  to  have  poured  out  its  richest 
earthly  treasures.  Now,  I  am  anxious  that  agriculture  should 
occupy  that  place  among  the  liberal  professions,  to  which  it  can 
be  raised,  and  to  which,  from  its  importance,  it  is  entitled.  But 
this  can  only  be  done  by  improving  the  education  of  farmers  as 
a  class,  — by  multiplying,  through  the  means  of  a  most  liberal  and 
extended  education,  the  charms  of  the  country,  and  the  subjects 
of  interest  which  would  be  constantly  more  and  more  developed 


%5Q  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

to  a  cultivated  and  inquisitive  mind ;  and  by  showing  that  its 
successful  pursuit,  either  as  matter  of  business  or  recreation, 
where  a  moderate  fortune  is  possessed  or  a  moderate  profes- 
sional income  is  secured,  is  not  incompatible  with  the  highest 
improvement  of  taste,  and  even  a  vigorous  and  successful  pursuit 
of  learning  ;  and  that,  where  so  pursued,  under  favorable  circum- 
stances, it  affords  as  fair  a  chance  of  rational  enjoyment  and 
quiet  usefulness  as  any  situation  which  the  most  lucrative  trade, 
or  the  most  successful  political  ambition,  or  even  the  highest  pro- 
fessional eminence,  can  command. 

But  I  fear,  how  much  soever  I  may  satisfy  the  sober  and 
reflecting  minds  on  this  point,  my  opinions  and  persuasions  will 
scarcely  be  heard,  and  far  less  heeded,  in  that  rush  for  wealth, 
for  office,  and  for  notoriety,  which,  like  a  torrent  sweeping  over 
the  country,  carries  every  movable  object  in  its  course.  It 
seems,  however,  not  less  my  duty  to  record  my  strong  convic- 
tions, which  the  experience  of  a  life  not  short  has  served  only 
to  confirm.  I  see  in  my  own  country  every  where  proffered  to 
an  honest  industry,  a  wise  frugality,  and  a  wholesome  self- 
government,  the  most  ample  rewards :  I  see  a  wide  extent  of 
rich  and  beautiful  territory  waiting  the  improving  hand  of  skill 
and  labor,  to  be  had  in  many  cases  almost  for  asking,  with  every 
man  free  to  choose  where  he  will  pitch  his  tent,  not  only  with- 
out injury,  but  to  the  advantage  of  his  neighbor  :  I  see  the 
means  of  education,  of  competence,  and  of  substantial  inde- 
pendence, held  out  to  all  who  will  avail  themselves  of  them. 
In  the  midst  of  all  this,  I  see  thousands  and  thousands  of  young 
men,  blest  with  education  and  fortunes  adequate  to  supply  all 
reasonable  wants  in  the  country,  rushing  into  cities,  exhausting 
their  small  means  in  the  extravagances  and  dissipations  of  fash- 
ionable life ;  crowding  all  the  professions  to  repletion ;  pressing 
on,  with  vexation  and  disappointment  heaped  upon  vexation  and 
disappointment,  into  all  the  avenues  of  political  office  and  dis- 
tinction, and  into  all  the  bitter  strifes  of  political  controversy ; 
forcing  their  way  into  the  pursuits  of  trade  without  talents  for 
their  prosecution,  and  almost  sure  to  involve  themselves  in  bank- 
ruptcy and  ruin  ;  and,  in  one  form  and  another,  dragging  on 
through  life  without  satisfaction  to  themselves  and  without 
usefulness  to  others,  and  too  often  a  ruinous  burden  upon  those 
whom  it  is  now  their  turn  to  succor  and  relieve.     I  cannot, 


RURAL  MANNERS  IN  ENGLAND.  251 

therefore,  help  wishing  that  the  pursuits  of  agriculture  might  be 
made  attractive  to  such  persons  ;  and  that,  with  education,  and 
that  moderate  fortune  which  would  give  them  the  command  of 
the  best  advantages  of  rural  life,  they  might  find  in  it,  as  far  as 
rational  happiness  and  humble  usefulness  are  concerned,  that 
philosopher's  stone  which  in  other  places  they  are  almost  sure  to 
search  for  in  vain. 


XXXVII.  —  RURAL   MANNERS   IN   ENGLAND. 

England  presents  many  such  examples.  The  true  English 
gentleman,  living,  remote  from  the  din  of  cities,  and  abstracted 
from  the  turmoil  of  political  life,  upon  his  own  acres  ;  managing 
his  own  estate ;  seeking  the  best  means  for  its  improvement,  and 
superintending,  under  his  own  personal  inspection,  their  applica- 
tion ;  doing  what  good  he  can  to  all  around  him  ;  making  those 
dependent  upon  him  comfortable  and  contented  ;  giving  labor, 
counsel,  encouragement,  and  all  needful  aid,  to  his  poor  neigh- 
bors, and  causing  them,  and  their  wives,  and  their  children,  to 
look  up  to  him  as  a  friend  and  a  parent,  to  whose  kindness  their 
good  conduct  is  always  a  certain  claim  ;  whom  when  the  eye 
sees,  it  sparkles  with  grateful  joy,  and  when  the  ear  hears  his 
footsteps,  the  sounds  go  like  melody  to  the  heart ;  who  is  in  his 
neighborhood  the  avowed  and  unostentatious  supporter  of  good 
morals,  temperance,  education,  peace,  and  religion ;  and  in  whose 
house  you  find  an  open-hearted  hospitality,  and  abundant  re- 
sources for  innocent  gratification,  and  for  the  improvement  of 
the  mind,  with  a  perfect  gentleness  of  manners,  and  unaffected 
piety  presiding  over  the  whole  ;  —  I  say,  such  a  man  —  and  it 
has  been  my  happiness  to  find  many  examples  —  need  envy  no 
one  save  the  possessor  of  more  power,  and  a  wider  sphere,  of 
doing  good ;  and  need  not  covet  the  brightest  triumphs  of 
political  ambition,  nor  the  splendors  and  luxuries  of  royal 
courts. 

Whatever  contributes,  then,  in  any  way,  to  elevate  the  agri- 
cultural profession,  to  raise  it,  from  a  mere  servile  or  mercenary 
labor,  to  the  dignity  of  a  liberal  profession,  and  to  commend  it 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

not  merely  for  its  profit  and  usefulness,  bwt  as  a  delightful 
resource  and  recreation  for  a  cultivated  mind,  will  certainly  find 
favor  with  those  who  form  rational  views  of  life,  who  wish  well 
to  the  cause  of  good  morals,  and  would  multiply  and  strengthen 
the  safeguards  of  human  virtue. 

The  class  of  individuals  whom  I  have  described  —  and  I 
assure  my  readers  I  have  drawn  from  real  life,  and  deal  in  no 
fictions  —  find  often  their  own  efforts  seconded  and  aided  by 
those  whose  encouragement  and  sympathy  always  give  new  life 
and  vigor  to  their  exertions,  and  new  pleasure  to  their  pleasures, 
—  I  mean  their  own  wives  and  children;  and  the  farming 
operations,  in  all  their  history  and  details,  and  all  their  expe- 
diency and  fitness,  are  as  much  matter  of  familiar  and  interested 
discussion  at  the  fireside,  as,  in  many  other  circles,  the  most 
recent  novel,  the  change  in  fashion,  or  the  latest  triumph  of 
party.  Indeed,  I  have  seen,  in  many  cases,  the  wives  and  the 
daughters  —  and  these,  too,  often  persons  of  the  highest  rank 
and  refinement — as  well  acquainted  with  every  field  and  crop, 
their  management  and  their  yield,  and  with  every  implement 
and  animal  on  the  place,  as  the  farmer  himself ;  and  I  always  put 
it  down  to  the  credit  of  their  good  sense. 


XXXVIII. —  A   PENCIL   SKETCH. 

I  must  claim  the  indulgence  of  my  readers,  if  I  give  them  an 
account  of  a  visit  in  the  country  so  instructive,  so  bright,  so 
cheerful,  that  nothing  but  the  absolute  breaking-up  of  the  mind 
can  ever  obliterate  its  record,  or  dispel  the  bright  vision  from  my 
imagination.  I  know  my  fair  readers  —  for  with  some  such  I 
am  assured  my  humble  Reports  are  kindly  honored  —  will  feel 
an  interest  in  it ;  and  if  I  have  any  unfair  readers,  I  beg  them  at 
once  to  turn  over  the  page.  But  mind,  I  shall  utter  no  name, 
and  point  to  no  place  ;  and  if  I  did  not  know  that  the  example 
was  not  altogether  singular,  and  therefore  would  not  be  detected, 
I  should  not  relate  it.  I  know  very  well,  as  soon  as  I  return  to 
my  native  land,  if  Heaven  has  that  happiness  yet  in  store  for 


A    PENCIL    SKETCH.  263 

me,  a  dozen  of  my  charming  friends,  —  God  bless  them  !  —  with 
their  bright  eyes,  and  their  gentle  entreaties,  will  be  pressing  me 
for  a  disclosure  ;  but  I  tell  them  beforehand,  I  am  panoplied  in  a 
stern  philosophy,  and  shall  remain  immovable. 

I  had  no  sooner,  then,  entered  the  house,  where  my  visit  had 
been  expected,  than  I  was  met  with  an  unaffected  cordiality 
which  at  once  made  me  at  home.  In  the  midst  of  gilded  halls 
and  hosts  of  liveried  servants,  of  dazzling  lamps,  and  glittering 
mirrors,  redoubling  the  highest  triumphs  of  art  and  taste :  in  the 
midst  of  books,  and  statues,  and  pictures,  and  all  the  elegances 
and  refinements  of  luxury ;  in  the  midst  of  titles,  and  dignities, 
and  ranks,  allied  to  regal  grandeur,  —  there  was  one  object  which 
transcended  and  eclipsed  them  all,  and  showed  how  much  the 
nobility  of  character  surpassed  the  nobility  of  rank,  the  beauty 
of  refined  and  simple  manners  all  the  adornments  of  art,  and 
the  scintillations  of  the  soul,  beaming  from  the  eyes,  the  purest 
gems  that  ever  glittered  in  a  princely  diadem.  In  person,  in 
education  and  improvement,  in  quickness  of  perception,  in  facility 
and  elegance  of  expression,  in  accomplishments  and  taste,  in  a 
frankness  and  gentleness  of  manners  tempered  by  a  modesty 
which  courted  confidence  and  inspired  respect,  and  in  a  high 
moral  tone  and  sentiment,  which,  like  a  bright  halo,  seemed  to 
encircle  the  whole  person,  —  I  confess  the  fictions  of  poetry 
became  substantial,  and  the  beau  ideal  of  my  youthful  imagina- 
tion was  realized. 

But  who  was  the  person  I  have  described  ?  A  mere  statue,  to 
adorn  a  gallery  of  sculpture  ?  a  bird  of  paradise,  to  be  kept  in  a 
glass  case  ?  a  mere  doll,  with  painted  cheeks,  to  be  dressed  and 
undressed  with  childish  fondness  ?  a  mere  human  toy,  to  lan- 
guish over  a  romance,  or  to  figure  in  a  quadrille  ?  Far  other- 
wise :  she  was  a  woman  in  all  the  noble  attributes  which  should 
dignify  that  name  ;  a  wife,  a  mother,  a  housekeeper,  a  farmer,  a 
gardener,  a  dairy-woman,  a  kind  neighbor,  a  benefactor  to  the 
poor,  a  Christian  woman,  ''  full  of  good  works,  and  alms-deeds 
which  she  did." 

In  the  morning,  I  first  met  her  at  prayers  ;  for,  to  the  honor 
of  England,  there  is  scarcely  a  family,  among  the  hundreds 
whose  hospitality  I  have  shared,  where  the  duties  of  the  day  are 
not  preceded  by  the  services  of  family  worship ;  and  the  master 
and  the  servant,  the  parent  and  the  child,  the  teacher  and  the 
22 


254  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

taught,  the  friend  and  the  stranger,  come  together  to  recognize 
and  strengthen  the  sense  of  their  common  equality  in  the 
presence  of  their  common  Father,  and  to  acknowledge  their 
equal  dependence  upon  his  care  and  mercy.  She  was  then  kind 
enough  to  tell  me,  after  her  morning  arrangements,  she  claimed 
me  for  the  day.  She  first  showed  me  her  children,  whom,  like 
the  Roman  mother,  she  deemed  her  brightest  jewels,  and 
arranged  their  studies  and  occupations  for  the  day.  She  then 
took  me  two  or  three  miles  on  foot  to  visit  a  sick  neighbor,  and, 
while  performing  this  act  of  kindness,  left  me  to  visit  some  of 
the  cottages  upon  the  estate,  whose  inmates  I  found  loud  in  the 
praises  of  her  kindness  and  benefactions.  Our  next  excursion 
was  to  see  some  of  the  finest,  and  largest,  and  most  aged  trees  in 
the  park,  the  size  of  which  was  truly  magnificent ;  and  I  sym- 
pathized in  the  veneration  which  she  expressed  for  them,  which 
was  like  that  with  which  one  recalls  the  illustrious  memory  of  a 
remote  progenitor.  Our  next  visit  was  to  the  greenhouses  and 
the  gardens ;  and  she  explained  to  me  the  mode  adopted  there  of 
managing  the  most  delicate  plants,  and  of  cultivating,  in  the 
most  economical  and  successful  manner,  the  fruits  of  a  warmer 
region.  From  the  garden  we  proceeded  to  the  cultivated  fields  ; 
and  she  informed  me  of  the  system  of  husbandry  pursued  on  the 
estate,  the  rotation  of  crops,  the  management  and  application  of 
manures,  the  amount  of  seed  sown,  the  ordinary  yield,  and  the 
appropriation  of  the  produce,  with  a  perspicuous  detail  of  the 
expenses  and  results.  She  then  undertook  to  show  me  the 
yards  and  offices,  the  byres,  the  feeding-stalls,  the  plans  for 
saving,  and  increasing,  and  managing,  the  manure,  the  cattle  for 
feeding,  for  breeding,  for  raising,  the  milking  stock,  the  piggery, 
the  poultry-yard,  the  stables,  the  harness-rooms,  the  implement- 
rooms,  the  dairy.  She  explained  to  me  the  process  of  making 
the  different  kinds  of  cheese,  and  the  general  management  of  the 
milk,  and  the  mode  of  feeding  the  stock ;  and  then,  conducting 
me  into  the  bailiffs  house,  she  exhibited  to  me  the  Farm  Jour- 
nal, and  the  whole  systematic  mode  of  keeping  the  accounts  and 
making  the  returns,  with  which  she  seemed  as  familiar  as  if  they 
were  the  accounts  of  her  own  wardrobe.  This  did  not  finish 
our  grand  tour ;  for,  on  my  return,  she  admitted  me  into  her 
boudoir,  and  showed  me  the  secrets  of  her  own  admirable  house- 
wifery, in  the  exact  accounts  which   she  kept   of  every  thing 


A    PENCIL    SKETCH.  255 

connected  with  the  dairy  and  the  market,  the  table,  the  drawing- 
room,  and  the  servants'  hall.  All  this  was  done  with  a  sim- 
plicity and  a  frankness  which  showed  an  absence  of  all  con- 
sciousness of  any  extraordinary  merit  in  her  own  department, 
and  which  evidently  sprang  solely  from  a  kind  desire  to  gratify 
a  cm'iosity  on  my  part,  which,  I  hope,  under  such  circumstances, 
was  not  unreasonable.  A  short  hour  after  this  brought  us  into 
another  relation ;  for  the  dinner-bell  summoned  us,  and  this  same 
lady  was  found  presiding  over  a  brilliant  circle  of  the  highest 
rank  and  fashion,  with  an  ease,  elegance,  wit,  intelligence,  and 
good-humor,  with  a  kind  attention  to  every  one's  wants,  and  an 
unaffected  concern  for  every  one's  comfort,  which  would  lead 
one  to  suppose  that  this  was  her  only  and  her  peculiar  sphere. 
Now,  I  will  not  say  how  many  mud-puddles  we  had  waded 
through,  and  how  many  dung-heaps  we  had  crossed,  and  what 
places  we  explored,  and  how  every  farming  topic  was  discussed ; 
but  I  will  say,  that  she  pursued  her  object  without  any  of  that 
fastidiousness  and  affected  delicacy  which  pass  with  some 
persons  for  refinement,  but  which  in  many  cases  indicate  a 
weak  if  not  a  corrupt  mind.  The  mind  which  is  occupied  with 
concerns  and  subjects  that  are  worthy  to  occupy  it,  thinks  very 
little  of  accessories  which  are  of  no  importance.  I  will  say,  to 
the  credit  of  Englishwomen,  —  I  speak,  of  course,  of  the  upper 
classes,  —  that  it  seems  impossible  that  there  should  exist  a  more 
delicate  sense  of  propriety  than  is  found  universally  among 
them  ;  and  yet  you  will  perceive  at  once  that  their  good  sense 
teaches  them  that  true  delicacy  is  much  more  an  element  of  the 
mind,  in  the  person  who  speaks  or  observes,  than  an  attribute  of 
the  subject  which  is  spoken  about  or  observed.  A  friend  told 
me  that  Canova  assured  him  that,  in  modelling  the  wonderful 
statue  of  the  Three  Graces,  from  real  life,  he  was  never  at  any 
time  conscious  of  an  improper  emotion  or  thought ;  and  if  any 
man  can  look  at  this  splendid  production,  this  affecting  imbodi- 
ment  of  a  genius  almost  creative  and  divine,  with  any  other 
emotion  than  that  of  the  most  profound  and  respectful  admira- 
tion, he  may  well  tremble  for  the  utter  corruption,  within  him, 
of  that  moral  nature  which  God  designed  should  elevate  him 
above  the  brute  creation. 

Now,  I  do  not  say  that  the  lady  to  whom  I  have  referred  was 
herself  the  manager  of  the  farm;  that  rested  entirely  with  her 


256  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

husband  ;  but  I  have  intended  simply  to  show  how  grateful  and 
gratifying  to  him  must  have  been  the  Hvely  interest  and  sym- 
pathy which  she  took  in  concerns  which  necessarily  so  much 
engaged  his  time  and  attention ;  and  how  the  country  could  be 
divested  of  that  dulness  and  ennuij  so  often  complained  of  as 
inseparable  from  it,  when  a  cordial  and  practical  interest  is  taken 
in  the  concerns  which  necessarily  belong  to  rural  life.  I  meant 
also  to  show  — as  this  and  many  other  examples  which  have 
come  under  my  observation  emphatically  do  show  —  that  an 
interest  in,  and  a  familiarity  with,  even  the  most  humble  occu- 
pations of  agricultural  life,  are  not  inconsistent  with  the  highest 
refinements  of  taste,  the  most  improved  cultivation  of  the  mind, 
the  practice  of  the  polite  accomplishments,  and  a  grace,  and 
elegance,  and  dignity  of  manners,  unsurpassed  in  the  highest 
circles  of  society. 


XXXIX. —  LIFE  IN   THE   COUNTRY. 

To  live  in  the  country,  and  enjoy  all  its  pleasures,  we  should 
love  the  country.  To  love  the  country  is  to  take  an  interest  in 
all  that  belongs  to  the  countty  —  its  occupations,  its  sports,  its 
culture,  and  its  improvements,  its  fields  and  its  forests,  its  trees 
and  rocks,  its  valleys  and  hills,  its  lakes  and  rivers ;  to  gather 
the  flocks  around  us,  and  feed  them  from  our  own  hands  ;  to 
make  the  birds  our  friends,  and  call  them  all  by  their  names ;  to 
wear  a  chaplet  of  roses  as  if  it  were  a  princely  diadem  ;  to  rove 
over  the  verdant  fields  with  a  higher  pleasure  than  we  should 
tread  the  carpeted  halls  of  regal  courts  ;  to  inhale  the  fresh  air 
of  the  morning  as  if  it  were  the  sweet  breath  of  infancy ;  to 
brush  the  dew  from  the  glittering  fields  as  if  our  path  were 
strewed  with  diamonds  ;  to  hold  converse  with  the  trees  of  the 
forest,  in  their  youth  and  in  their  decay,  as  if  they  could  tell  us 
the  history  of  their  own  times,  and  as  if  the  gnarled  bark  of  the 
aged  among  them  were  all  Avritten  over  with  the  record  of  by- 
gone days,  of  those  who  planted  them,  and  those  who  early 
gathered  their  fruits ;  to  find  hope  and  joy  bursting  like  a  flood 
upon  our  hearts,  as  the  darting  rays  of  light  gently  break  upon 


VETERINARY    COLLEGE.  257 

the  eastern  horizon ;  to  see  the  descending  sun  robing  himself  in 
burnished  clouds,  as  if  these  were  the  gathering  glories  of  the 
divine  throne ;  to  find  in  the  clear  evening  of  winter  our 
chamber  studded  with  countless  gems  of  living  light ;  to  feel 
that  "  we  are  never  less  alone  than  when  alone ;  "  to  make  even 
the  stillness  and  solitude  of  the  country  eloquent ;  and  above  all, 
in  the  beauty  of  every  object  which  presents  itself  to  our  senses, 
and  in  the  unbought  provision  which  sustains,  and  comforts,  and 
fills  with  joy,  the  countless  multitudes  of  living  existences  which 
people  the  land,  the  water,  the  air,  every  where  to  repletion,  to 
see  the  radiant  tokens  of  an  infinite  and  inexhaustible  benefi- 
cence, as  they  roll  by  us  and  around  us  in  one  ceaseless  flood  ; 
and  in  a  clear  £ind  bright  day  of  summer,  to  stand  out  in  the 
midst  of  this  resplendent  creation,  circled  by  an  horizon  which 
continually  retreats  from  our  advances,  holding  its  distance 
undiminished,  and  with  the  broad  and  deep  blue  arches  of 
heaven  over  us,  whose  depths  no  human  imagination  can  fathom  ; 
to  perceive  this  glorious  temple  all  instinct  with  the  presence  of 
the  Divinity,  and  to  feel,  amidst  all  this,  the  brain  growing  dizzy 
with  wonder,  and  the  heart  swelling  with  an  adoration  and  a 
holy  joy,  absolutely  incapable  of  utterance  ;  — this  it  is  to  love 
the  country,  and  to  make  it,  not  the  home  of  the  person  only,  but 
of  the  soul. 


XL.  —  VETERINARY   COLLEGE. 

I  must  not  quit  the  subject  of  agricultural  education  without 
adverting  to  some  other  institutions  of  great  importance.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  Veterinary  College,  near  London.  I  believe 
there  is  one  of  a  similar  character  near  Edinburgh ;  but  that  I 
have  not  visited. 

The  object  of  this  institution  was  to  qualify  persons,  by  the 
study  of  comparative  anatomy  and  physiology,  and  by  oppor- 
tunities for  witnessing  hospital  practice  and  investigating  the 
symptoms  and  phenomena  of  disease  in  the  lower  animals,  to 
practise  veterinary  surgery  and  medicine  ;  and  to  do  what  can 
be  done,  by  skill  and  science,  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferings  and 
22* 


258  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

the  cure  of  the  maladies  of  quadrupeds  of  all  kinds  —  horses,  cattle, 
sheep,  dogs,  &c.  For  this  purpose,  a  number  of  gentlemen 
associated,  and,  by  a  subscription  for  life  of  twenty  guineas  each, 
or  an  annual  payment  of  two  guineas,  laid  the  foundation  of  this 
excellent  and  humane  establishment.  An  extensive  plot  of 
ground,  about  three  miles  from  the  centre  of  London,  was 
obtained,  and  the  necessary  buildings  —  consisting  of  stables  and 
loose  boxes;  long  piazzas  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  patients 
exercise  in  bad  weather  under  cover ;  a  room  for  lectures  and 
dissections,  and  for  a  museum  of  anatomical  preparations  :  and 
specimens  of  diseased  organization,  and  a  forge  for  shoeing, 
together  with  apartments  for  the  resident  professor,  and  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  servants  of  the  establishment  —  have  been 
erected  ;  and  already  nearly  or  quite  a  thousand  pupils  have 
received  diplomas  or  certificates  of  their  qualifications  for 
practice,  and  have  gone  to  the  business  of  their  profession  in 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  in  the  army,  and  in  foreign 
countries. 

Subscribers  to  the  establishment  have  the  privilege  of  sending 
their  horses,  or  diseased  animals,  to  the  institution,  without  any 
other  expense  than  the  actual  cost  of  their  food ;  but  no  animal 
can  be  admitted  which  is  not  the  property  of  either  an  annual  or  a 
permanent  subscriber.  The  horses  of  subscribers  are  sometimes 
prescribed  for  at  their  own  stables,  when  it  is  inconvenient  to 
send  them,  provided  the  medicines  are  compounded  at  the 
college.  In  case  the  disease  of  an  animal  is  pronounced  des- 
perate, the  owner,  upon  paying  the  expenses  already  incurred, 
may  surrender  him  to  the  college ;  and  if,  by  any  treatment 
which  they  may  see  fit  to  adopt,  the  animal  is  recovered,  the 
owner  may  have  him  again  by  paying  the  additional  expenses 
since  his  surrender,  or  he  will  be  considered  the  property  of  the 
college.  Horses  likewise  may  be  shod  at  the  forge  of  the 
college  at  the  customary  charges.  Subscribers  likewise,  at  a 
distance,  have  the  privilege  of  procuring  any  medicines  or  drugs, 
which  may  be  required,  compounded  at  the  college,  and  fur- 
nished at  the  actual  cost. 

A  principal  and  an  adjunct  professor  of  veterinary  science  and 
practice,  men  eminent  for  their  knowledge  and  skill,  preside  over 
the  institution,  and  give  regular  courses  of  lectures  and  examina- 
tions ;  and  the  number  of  patients  in  the  infirmary  is  generally 


VETERINARY    COLLEGE.  259 

such  as  to  afford  the  students  an  opportunity  of  seemg  a  consid- 
erable variety  of  practice,  especially  among  horses,  to  which 
hitherto  the  practice  has  been  mainly  confined.  Besides  this, 
through  the  liberality  of  the  professors  of  the  Medical  College, 
the  students  at  the  Veterinary  Institution  have  an  opportunity 
of  attending  the  medical  and  anatomical  lectures  gratuitously 
at  these  institutions ;  and,  to  guard,  as  far  as  possible,  against 
ignorance  and  incompetency,  no  student  can  receive  the  diploma 
or  recommendation  of  the  institution  to  practise,  until  he  has 
passed  a  regular  and  thorough  examination,  and  has  been  found 
qualified  for  the  duty. 

This  is  a  most  excellent  institution.  In  an  economical  view, 
it  is  highly  important ;  for  the  amount  of  property  in  live  stock 
is  every  where  very  great ;  and  here,  where,  as  in  several  estab- 
lishments kept  by  a  single  individual,  there  are  twenty  and 
thirty,  and  sometimes  forty  horses  for  hunting,  and  in  other 
cases  as  many  more  for  racing,  —  and  where,  as  in  several  cases 
within  my  knowledge,  packs  of  dogs,  of  very  great  original  cost, 
are  kept  at  an  expense  of  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand 
pounds,  or  from  seven  thousand  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  a  year, 
and  in  many  cases  more  than  that,  —  it  is  easy  to  see  what  a 
large  amount  of  property  is  at  stake,  and  to  what  care  it  is 
entitled.  I  have  been  at  one  or  two  establishments  where  the 
horses  in  the  stables,  exclusive  of  horses  for  farm  work,  amount- 
ed to  sixty  or  eighty.  The  large  number  of  cavalry  horses 
belonging  to  the  army  render  the  services  of  a  veterinary  sur- 
geon, in  such  establishments,  of  indispensable  importance. 

Surgery,  as  an  art,  has  been  carried  to  great  perfection ;  and  in 
some  circumstances  hardly  any  thing  more  seems  wanting  than 
actually  to  breathe  into  some  of  the  artificial  anatomical  prepara- 
tions the  Promethean  fire,  and  set  the  circulations  in  motion. 
Medicine,  indeed,  presents  but  few  infallible  remedies,  but  some- 
thing has  been  done ;  and  if  comparatively  little  has  been  accom- 
plished by  physic,  yet  much  has  been  done  by  a  curative  treat- 
ment and  regimen.  I  am  aware  that  it  is  quite  customary  to 
say  of  many  novel,  and  certainly  very  gentle  modes  of  treatment, 
of  recent  date,  that  the  patients  are  cured  by  the  imagination ; 
and  this  is  as  agreeable  a  mode  of  cure  as  bloodletting,  or 
powerful  doses  of  calomel  and  jalap,  or  the  exciting  operation  of 
Spanish  flies.      It  is  obvious,    however,  that,    until    we   make 


260  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

much  further  progress  in  })hrenological  science,  we  can  do  little 
by  applications  to  the  imaginations  of  horses  or  dogs.  But, 
whatever  imperfection  attaches  itself  to  medical  science,  some- 
thing at  least  may  be  gained  from  it  ,*  and  it  certainly  presents 
the  only  practicable  and  probable  means  of  learning  the  nature 
of  disease,  and  combating  its  power.  At  any  rate,  medical 
science,  and  a  thorough  medical  education,  seem  to  afford  the 
only  substantial  security  against  the  evils  of  empiricism  or 
quackery ;  and,  to  say  nothing  of  experiments  upon  the  human 
organism,  I  have  myself  seen,  under  the  pretence  of  remedy  or 
cure,  such  horrible  cruelties  practised  upon  dumb  animals,  as 
have  filled  me  with  indignation,  and  have  made  me  indulge  the 
inhuman  wish  of  changing  places  with  the  operator  —  of  putting 
him  in  the  position  of  his  unhappy  patient,  and  of  being  allowed 
to  try  some  of  his  prescriptions  upon  himself.  If  they  answered, 
well :  but,  in  many  cases,  I  think  he  would  soon  be  past  answer- 
ing at  all.  The  public  have  reason  to  congratulate  themselves 
that  medical  practice  is  now  every  where  assuming  the  character 
of  prevention  rather  than  of  cure  ;  and  that  the  truly  respectable 
part  of  the  profession,  dropping  that  profound  air  of  mystery 
with  which  they  formerly  were  accustomed  to  wrap  themselves 
up,  and  which  made  one  tremble  in  their  presence  almost  as 
much  as  in  the  presence  of  the  original  professor  of  the  black  art, 
now  prefer  the  more  simple  to  the  more  artificial  practice. 
They  seem  to  be  fast  learning  that  Nature,  like  others  of  the 
sex,  may  be  persuaded,  but  not  forced ;  may  be  kindly  led,  but 
woe  be  to  the  man  who  attempts  to  drive  her ;  and  that,  in 
truth,  the  great  object  of  medicine  is,  not  to  give  health,  but  to 
remove  disease  ;  to  clean  and  adjust  the  machinery,  and  then  it 
will  go  right  of  itself,  barring  accidents,  as  long  as  it  is  intended 
to  go  at  all. 

1  have  already  spoken  of  the  importance  of  the  veterinary  art 
in  an  economical  view.  A  frightful  disease  has  for  some  time 
prevailed  among  the  cattle  in  England,  Ireland,  and  the  Con- 
tinent. I  met  with  one  farmer  who  assured  me  that  he  had  lost 
by  it,  in  one  season,  ninety-seven  cattle,  and  he  feared  his  whole 
herd  might  perish  with  it,  for  he  could  find  no  remedy.  Now, 
there  is  no  hope  of  any  remedy  but  from  the  investigations  of 
medical  skill  and  science.  We  want  men,  therefore,  who  by 
education  are  qualified  for,  and  willing  to. devote  themselves  to,  the 


VETERINARY    COLLEGE.  261 

inquiry  into  the  causes  and  means  of  prevention  of  such  direful 
calamities.  The  epidemic  still  prevails  in  England  and  on  the 
Continent ;  and  application  has  been  made  to  the  government  to 
check  the  importation  of  foreign  cattle,  lest  they  should  assist 
in  the  spread  of  the  disease.  Indeed,  numbers  of  cattle  are 
almost  every  week,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe,  brought  to 
Smithfield  in  such  a  state  of  disease  as  to  be  fit  for  no  other 
purpose  —  and  for  this  they  are  actually  bought  —  but  to  make 
sausages  for  the  poor  Londoners.  I  hardly  dare  say  that  this  is 
not  to  be  complained  of;  but  when  one  sees  the  extreme  and 
indescribable  misery  and  destitution  of  many  of  these  poor 
wretches,  apparently  irremediable  and  hopeless,  one  almost 
hesitates,  in  sad  desperation,  to  lament  a  mode  of  disposing 
of  them  after  the  Napoleon  example  of  the  treatment  of  his 
sick  prisoners  at  Jaffa.  I  almost  tremble  while  I  write  upon 
such  a  subject  as  this.  It  is  indispensable  to  see,  in  order  to 
believe.  I  have  had  the  painful,  I  hope  not  improper,  curiosity 
to  penetrate  many  of  these  subterranean  hiding-places  and  dens 
of  misery;  and  it  is  my  sober  conviction  that  the  human  imagi- 
nation cannot  exaggerate  the  physical  suffering,  and,  too  com- 
monly consequent  upon  that,  the  moral  degradation  in  which 
many  thousands,  in  this  glorious  and  prosperous  country,  drag 
out  their  wretched  existence.  But  I  advocate  the  establishment 
of  veterinary  institutions,  and  the  cultivation  of  veterinary  med- 
icine, on  the  broad  ground  of  humanity ;  and  I  hope  many  such 
institutions  will  grow  up  in  America,  and  that  speedily.  It  is 
remarkable  that,  in  the  disease  of  one  of  our  domestic  animals, 
medical  science  has  discovered  the  only  effectual  preventive  for 
one  of  the  most  dreadful  scourges  which,  in  the  form  of  disease, 
ever  afflicted  mankind.     I  refer,  of  course,  to  vaccination. 

But  these  animals  have  bones  to  ache,  and  nerves  to  feel,  as 
well  as  ourselves.  They  furnish  our  support ;  they  perform  our 
labors ;  they  promote  our  pleasures ;  they  are  patient,  enduring, 
and  indefatigable,  in  our  service.  Has  not  God  cast  them  upon 
our  care,  and  put  them  under  our  protection  ?  What  a  respon- 
sibility !  Shall  it  be  said  that  those  who  have  no  voice  to  speak 
for  themselves,  shall  find  no  one  to  speak  for  them  ?  What  if 
they  have  no  moral  nature  ?  Then  they  have  not  the  vices  of 
animals  of  a  superior  class,  who,  dishonoring,  perverting,  and 
outraging,  that  moral  nati.re,  degrade  themselves  far  below  the 


262  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

class  of  beings  guided  only  by  instinctive  impulses.  It  is  said 
of  the  great  emperor,  that  his  heart  was  never  more  touched,  if 
heart  indeed  he  had,  than  on  a  certain  occasion,  when,  three 
days  after  a  sanguinary  battle,  when  human  victims  were  immo- 
lated to  his  dreadful  ambition  by  thousands,  riding  over  a  field 
thickly  strewed  with  the  dying  and  the  dead,  he  found  a  faithful 
dog  lying  by  the  side  and  licking  the  bleeding  wounds  of  his 
dying  master.  The  noble  dog  of  St.  Bernard,  dragging  the 
perishing  traveller  from  the  snow-drift  to  the  hospitable  convent, 
for  warmth  and  comfort,  and  the  poor  spaniel  dying  with  slow 
starvation  upon  the  grave  of  his  master,  and  refusing  to  be  led 
away  or  to  be  comforted,  are  pictures  of  heroism  and  fidelity 
worthy  of  a  place  at  the  side  of  that  of  Regulus,  deaf  to  the 
entreaties  of  his  family,  taking  leave  of  the  senate  on  his  return 
to  fulfil  his  pledge,  or  that  of  the  Grecian  daughter  nourishing 
her  father  in  prison. 

Humanity  calls  upon  us  to  alleviate  suffering,  wherever  suf- 
fering exists.  I  wish  that  veterinary  instruction  was  connected 
with  all  our  medical  schools,  and  made  an  indispensable  branch 
of  study.  We  try  all  kinds  of  experiments  upon  these  helpless 
animals  for  the  benefit  of  science,  and  science  should  do  some- 
thing to  repay  the  debt,  by  attempting,  in  every  practicable  form, 
to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  race.  In  the  country,  a  medical 
practitioner,  who  would  add  veterinary  skill  and  practice  to  his 
other  services,  would  confer  immense  benefits.  It  is  lamentable 
that,  by  a  false  standard  of  moral  duty,  such  an  office  should  be 
thought  degrading.  In  many  cases,  it  might  subject  him  to 
painful  and  thankless  services;  but  the  life  of  every  benevolent 
physician  is  full  of  such  services,  and  he  has  only  to  thank  God 
that  he  has  the  power  of  doing  so  much  good,  often  at  so  little 
cost.  So  far  from  such  a  practice  being  degrading,  the  physician 
who  would  be  willing  to  render  such  services  would  be  worthy 
of  double  honor  ;  for  the  more  humble,  the  meaner,  the  more 
friendless  the  sufferer,  proportionately  is  the  glory  of  the  kindness 
enhanced.  There  is  no  reason,  however,  why  such  services 
should  be  gratuitous,  and  in  many  situations  it  would  form  a 
profitable  branch  of  practice. 


MUSEUM    OF    ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY.  263 


XLI.  — MUSEUM   OF   ECONOMIC    GEOLOGY. 

This  is  a  most  valuable  establishment,  in  the  centre  of  Lon- 
don. Its  whole  object  is  utility,  and  principally  in  rendering 
geological  discoveries  subservient  to  the  promotion  of  the  useful 
and  ornamental  arts.  It  is  a  most  singular,  but  a  well-estab- 
lished fact,  that  the  mineral  treasures  dug  from  the  mines,  in  the 
islands  of  Great  Britain,  amount  to  the  enormous  sum  of  twenty 
million  pounds  sterling  per  year,  or  one  hundred  million  of 
dollars,  —  of  which  eight  million  pounds,  or  forty  million  of  dol- 
lars, are  of  iron,  and  nine  million  pounds,  or  forty-five  million  of 
dollars,  of  coal.  It  is  easy  to  see  what  a  vast  interest  is  at  stake 
in  these  matters.  In  another  form,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  give 
some  account  of  a  visit  which  I  made  to  one  of  these  immense 
excavations,  where  I  descended,  by  a  ladder,  seven  hundred  feet, 
and  then  groped  my  way  through  various  crevices,  and  chambers, 
and  shafts,  a  distance  of  perhaps  two  miles  under  ground.  I  am 
disposed  to  think  it  would  be  misplaced  in  an  agricultural  report, 
where  I  am  afraid  my  friends  will  already  find  too  many  things 
out  of  place.  I  can  only,  in  this  matter,  throw  myself  upon  the 
indulgence  of  my  readers,  and  remind  them  of  the  variety  of 
tastes  and  appetites  which  I  am  compelled  to  consult.  If,  in 
spite  of  all  this,  a  bill  of  indictment  should  be  brought  against 
me  for  making  my  Reports  too  miscellaneous,  I  shall  at  once 
allow  a  plea  of  guilty  to  be  recorded,  and  throw  myself  upon  the 
mercy  of  the  court.  I  am  indeed,  in  this  way,  an  old  offender, 
and  I  cannot  express  the  gratitude  which  I  feel  for  the  mercy  I 
have  so  often  experienced. 

The  Museum  of  Economic  Geology,  though  not  founded 
principally  for  the  benefit  of  agricultural  science,  is  yet  made 
subsidiary  to  this  object.  The  geological  structure  of  any  por- 
tion of  the  earth's  surface  seems  intimately  related  to  the  nature 
of  the  soil  which  rests  upon  it ;  so  that,  from  knowing  the 
structure  of  the  rocky  substratum  of  a  country,  you  can  infer 
strongly  its  fertility  or  its  infertility,  or  the  adaptation  of  its  soil 
to  various  crops.  The  general  opinion  is,  that  all  soils  are 
formed  from  the  crumbling  or  detrition  of  rocks,  mixed  with 
some  vegetable  or  organic  matter.     This  is  the  received  theory, 


264  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

but  it  is  not  without  its  difficulties.  I  have  no  disposition  to 
controvert  it,  for  a  man  who  battles  with  the  stones  is  quite  sure 
to  have  the  worst  of  it.  The  original  form  of  the  earth  is 
wrapped  in  impenetrable  obscurity.  Science  is  doing  every- 
thing she  can  to  unfold  the  leaves  of  this  wonderful  book  ;  but 
where  they  have  been  most  successfully  separated  and  ex- 
pounded, they  are  found  so  scratched,  and  torn,  and  blurred  all 
over,  that  the  letters  are  with  extreme  difficulty  made  legible. 
We  soon  learn  that  it  was  a  much  earlier  specimen  of  printing 
than  has  been  generally  supposed,  and  some  of  it  in  a  language 
that  is  lost.  It  does  not  appear  to  me  more  certain  that  the 
rocks  were  first  formed,  and  then  portions  of  them  reduced  to 
such  a  fine  state  of  comminution  as  to  form  soils,  than  that  the 
earth  was  originally  in  a  state  of  fine  atoms,  and  then,  by  the 
operation  of  fire,  and  water,  and  pressure  from  within  and  with- 
out, amidst  violent  terrene  convulsions,  rocks  were  formed,  and 
the  various  strata  arranged.  It  would  seem  not  improbable 
that,  from  the  earliest  period  of  the  reduction  of  its  temperature 
to  a  degree  that  vegetable  life  could  exist  upon  it,  vegetable  life 
appeared  j  and  by  successive  convulsions  this  vegetable  life 
itself  became  overwhelmed,  and  was  transformed  into  those 
immense  beds  of  fossil  deposits  which  occupy  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  surface,  or  upper  portion,  of  the  globe.  How  afterwards 
such  vast  deposits  of  earth  took  place  over  these  beds  of  vege- 
table remains,  can  be  explained  only "^  by  some  immense  and 
utterly  inexplicable  convulsion  and  disruption  of  portions  of  the 
earth.  It  is  admitted  that  the  character  of  the  soil  often  bears  a 
direct  relation  to  the  rocks  which  it  overlays,  and  evidently  a 
considerable  portion  of  it  is  formed  from  the  detritus  of  these 
subjacent  rocks ;  but  the  vast  amount  of  drift  or  diluvium  scat- 
tered over  the  earth's  surface,  and  often  at  immense  distances 
from  places  where,  upon  the  common  theory,  it  is  supposed  to 
have  been  formed,  shows  that  the  geological  indications  above 
referred  to  are  not  infallible. 

The  Museum  of  Economic  Geology  is  intended  to  exhibit 
specimens  of  various  soils  from  the  different  localities  in  the 
country,  with  illustrations,  as  far  as  they  can  be  obtained,  of 
their  peculiar  adaptation  to  agricultural  purposes ;  and  connected 
with  the  museum  is  a  chemical  laboratory  for  the  analysis  of 
soils  which  may  have  already  been  obtained,  or  which  may  be 


CHEMICAL    AGRICULTURAL    ASSOCIATION    IN    SCOTLAND.  265 

brought  by  farmers  or  land-owners  for  that  purpose.  The 
museum  is  open  to  the  gratuitous  inspection  of  the  pubUc,  and 
is  clearly  the  germ  of  an  institution  of  great  magnitude  and 
importance.  The  establishment  is  at  present  under  the  manage- 
ment of  Mr.  Richard  Phillips,  F.  R.  S.,  a  man  deservedly  emi- 
nent for  his  skill  in  chemistry  and  natural  science,  to  whose 
indefatigable  kindness  I  should  do  great  injustice  to  my  own 
grateful  feelings  if  I  did  not  here  record  my  deep  sense  of  obli- 
gation. 


XLII.  —  CHEMICAL   AGRICULTURAL   ASSOCIATION   IN 
SCOTLAND. 

The  farmers  in  Scotland,  certainly  inferior  to  none  in  agri- 
cultural enterprise,  intelligence,  and  skill,  and  demonstrating  this 
by  a  husbandry  most  exact  and  productive,  have  associated 
themselves  together  for  the  encouragement  of  the  application  of 
chemistry  to  the  improvement  of  agriculture.  Proprietors  of 
land  pay  a  yearly  subscription  of  one  pound  or  upwards  to  the 
association,  and  tenants  ten  shillings.  This  sum  entitles  each 
of  them  to  two  analyses  a  year  at  a  certain  fixed  low  rate.  All 
above  that  number  are  charged  half  more.  The  analyst  is 
required  to  give  only  such  analysis  as  will  answer  the  desired 
purpose.  Agricultural  societies,  by  a  yearly  payment  of  five 
pounds  to  the  association,  are  entitled  to  one  lecture  from  the 
agricultural  professor ;  for  ten  pounds,  to  two  lectures,  and  so 
on  ;  and  the  travelling  expenses  of  the  lecturer  are  likewise  to 
be  paid  by  those  who  employ  him. 

The  society,  more  than  a  year  since,  proceeded  to  appoint,  at 
a  liberal  salary,  Mr.  F.  "W.  S.  Johnston,  an  agricultural  lecturer 
and  chemist,  to  the  office  of  chemist  and  lecturer  to  the  associa- 
tion ;  and  a  chemical  laboratory  and  depository  are  established 
and  in  full  operation  at  Edinburgh.  Mr.  Johnston  is  well  known 
to  the  agricultural  community  by  his  valuable  works  on  agricul- 
tural chemistry,  some  of  which  have  been  reprinted  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  both  countries  have  had  a  very  extended  circula- 
tion. The  success  of  the  association,  it  is  reported,  has  been 
23 


266 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


such  as  to  satisfy  the  original  subscribers  of  its  utility.  It  has 
led,  through  the  lectures  of  the  professor,  to  the  establishment 
of  several  agricultural  periodicals,  and  has  throughout  Scotland 
infused  new  spirit  into  the  veins  of  the  agricultural  body,  and 
quickened  its  pulse.  One  of  the  most  substantial  benefits  as  yet 
resulting  from  it  has  been  the  analytical  examination  of  ninety 
difierent  specimens  of  guano  imported  into  Scotland ;  and  that 
to  secure  the  farmers  from  impositions,  which,  in  cases  before 
this,  have  not  been  infrequeiit. 

After  the  remarks  which  I  have  made  in  a  former  part  of  my 
Report,  it  certainly  is  only  just  that  I  should  subjoin  the  analysis 
made  at  this  place  of  two  soils  from  Renfrewshire,  with  the 
results  of  the  application  prescribed  for  them. 


I. 

II. 

Per  cent. 

Per  cent. 

''  Organic  matter, 

12.05     . 

10.43 

Salts  soluble  in  water  ;  sulphates. 

1.23     . 

.     0.75 

Oxide  of  iron, 

5.73     . 

10.78 

Manganese, 

0.19     . 

0.24 

Alumina, 

4.69     . 

2.87 

Magnesia, 

trace.     . 

.   trace. 

Phosphoric  acids, 

trace.     . 

trace. 

Silicious  matter  and  clay,     .... 

74.67     . 

.  73.21 

98.56 


98.28 


"  But  a  mere  trace  of  magnesia  and  phosphoric  acid  was  found 
in  either  of  these  soils.  It  was  therefore  recommended  to  add 
to  both  of  them  the  magnesia  in  the  state  of  sulphate,  and  the 
phosphoric  acid  as  bone -earth.  The  effect  has  been  most  won- 
derful and  striking."  —  The  letter  with  which  I  have  been 
favored  adds,  ''None  of  the  analyses  I  have  given  are  very 
elaborate,  but  they  are  sufficiently  so  for  practical  purposes,  and 
they  do  not  confuse  or  mystify  the  farmer  with  hard  names." 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  this  institution,  and  there  was 
certainly  no  want  of  the  indications  of  industry.  I  have  only  to 
regret  that  my  friend's  account  of  his  two  patients  above  is  so 
short  and  imperfect.  I  should  be  ghd  to  have  been  able  to 
inform  my  readers  what  was  the  exact  condition  of  the  patients 
before  taking  the  prescription,  and  their  particular  state  of  health 
after  it. 


CHEMICAL    AGRICULTURAL    LECTURES.  267 


XLIII.  —  CHEMICAL   AGRICULTURAL   LECTURES. 

During  the  last  winter,  a  course  of  ten  lectures,  illustrated  by 
numerous  experiments,  was  given  by  Professor  Brande,  F.  R.  S., 
well  known  in  the  scientific  world,  on  the  chemistry  of  agri- 
culture, at  the  rooms  of  the  Royal  Institution,  —  which,  through 
his  politeness,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  attending.  They  might  be 
considered  as  almost  wholly  scientific,  and  were  exceedingly 
interesting  and  instructive.  Mr.  Brande  spoke  of  himself  as 
having  been  a  pupil  or  associate  of  the  distinguished  Sir 
Humphry  Davy,  who  lectured  on  the  same  subjects  in  this  same 
institution,  and  who  may  be  said  to  have  taken  the  first  step  in 
the  great  movement,  which  is  now  so  widely  felt,  of  the  applica- 
tion of  science,  properly  so  called,  to  agriculture. 

Professor  Brando's  lectures  were  numerously  attended,  by 
ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen.  Several  of  the  ladies  were  always 
busy  in  taking  notes  of  the  lectures.  I  felt  the  highest  respect 
for  them  on  this  account ;  and  if  I  had  been,  as  is  said  among 
the  clergy,  "  a  candidate  for  settlement,"  with  my  strong  pred- 
ilections for  agricultural  pursuits,  I  might  have  been  tempted  to 
inquire  about  some  of  them,  whose  high  and  capacious  foreheads 
gave  a  noble  indication  of  what  was  within,  whether  they  also 
were  in  the  transition  state.  Certainly  here,  as  well  as  any 
where,  I  may  claim  for  an  American  woman  the  honor  of  pre- 
senting from  her  own  pen  an  excellent  translation,  from  the 
French,  of  Chaptal's  Agricultural  Chemistry,  to  the  American 
public.  Her  name  is  modestly  withheld  from  the  title-page, 
and  therefore  I  have  no  right  to  give  it. 

I  shall  give  below  a  syllabus  of  Professor  Brando's  lectures  on 
these  occasions,  because  I  so  strongly  wish  the  example  should 
be  followed  in  my  own  country. 

1st.  Lecture.  The  Soil.  — Its  components;  whence  derived. 
—  Inorganic  Constituents  of  the  Soil.  Silica  ;  alumina  ;  lime  : 
magnesia  ;  oxide  of  iron  ;  alkalies  ;  phosphorus  ;  sulphur  ;  salts ; 
water  ;  decay  of  rocks  ;  sand  ;  clay  ;  marl ;  chalk  ;  other  simple 
soils.  —  Organic  Constituents.  Humus  or  humic  acid ;  their 
influences  and  uses.     Absorptive  power  in  regard  to  air,  water, 


I 


•^8 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


and  gases.     Radiating  and  receptive  powers  in  respect  to  solar 
rays.     Various  physical  conditions  of  the  soil. 

II.  The  Atmosphere.  —  Its  composition  ;  invariable  and  va- 
riable constituents.  Influence  of  the  moisture,  carbonic  acid, 
and  ammonia,  of  the  atmosphere. 

III.  The  Vegetable. — Its  Ultimate  Constituents^  and  their 
sources ;  carbon  ;  oxygen  ;  hydrogen  ;  nitrogen.  The  sources 
and  importance  of  the  so-called  inorganic  constituents  of  the 
vegetable  ;  acids  ;  alkalies  ;  oxides  ;  salts.  —  Proximate  Con- 
stituents of  the  vegetable  ;  sap  ;  wood  ;  starch ;  sugar  ;  gum. 
Their  metamorphoses ;  gluten ;  albumen  ;  fibrine ;  caseine  ; 
legumine  ;  ^ro/ee?ie ;  resins ;  oils;  acids;  alkalies;  fermentation; 
eremacausis  ;  putrefaction. 

IV.  Functions  and  Growth  of  Vegetables.  —  Germination ; 
general  organization  of  vegetables  ;  roots ;  trunk  ;  branches ; 
leaves ;  flowers  ;  buds ;  functions  of  the  roots  and  of  the  leaves. 

V.  Principles  of  the  Improvement  of  Soils. — Mechanical, 
as  influencing  texture ;  chemical,  as  influencing  composition 
TnanureSj  of  inorganic,  organic,  and  mixed  origin.  Draining ; 
ploughing ;  burning ;  irrigation  ;  green  crops  ;  interchange  of 
crops ;  fallows. 

I  make  no  apology  for  giving  to  my  readers  this  instructive 
syllabus  in  full.  It  is  said  of  Glueen  Elizabeth  that,  being 
asked  by  one  of  her  maids  of  honor  for  a  book  to  read,  she  gave 
her  an  English  dictionary.  The  lady  presently  returned  it  to 
her  majesty  with  many  thanks,  and  stated  ''  that  she  had  been 
much  interested  in  the  perusal."  There  was  more  wisdom  in 
this  reply  than  at  first  appears.  To  say  nothing  of  its  conve- 
nience, yet  I  have  often  found  a  copious  index,  or  a  well-digested 
table  of  contents,  an  interesting  and  instructive  portion  of  a  book. 


XLiV.  —  EMPLOYMENT   OF   AGRICULTURISTS. 

In   the   technical  sense   of  the  term,   agriculturist  means  a 
teacher  of  agriculture.     Under  the   excellent   management   of 


I 


EMPLOYMENT    OF    AGRICULTURISTS.  269 

William  Blacker,  Esq.,  on  the  estate  of  Lord  Gosford,  in  the 
county  of  Armagh,  Ireland,  an  experienced  and  intelligent  man, 
well  skilled  in  communicating  his  ideas,  is  employed  to  visit  the 
tenants  on  the  property,  to  advise  them  in  regard  to  the  manage- 
ment and  cultivation  of  their  small  farms,  and  to  encourage  them 
by  some  small  premiums,  and  by  reporting  their  condition  and 
success  to  the  principal  manager.  The  occupations  in  these 
cases  are  very  small,  often  not  exceeding  three,  four,  and  six 
acres.  As  I  understood  Mr.  Blacker,  he  has  the  care  of  twenty- 
five  hundred  tenants  on  the  property  of  this  nobleman.  This 
number,  I  confess,  seems  very  extraordinary ;  but  the  subdi- 
visions on  the  place  are  quite  small  and  numerous.  I  shall,  on 
another  occasion,  give  a  particular  account  of  Mr.  Blacker's 
excellent  management  of  small  farms,  because  it  is  full  of  useful 
instruction,  and  does  the  highest  honor  to  his  judgment,  perse- 
verance, and  benevolence.  At  present,  I  speak  only  of  the^ 
employment  of  an  agriculturist,  which  has  been  attended  with 
the  best  effects.  This  person-  lives  on  the  estate,  and  has  a 
small  amount  of  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  own  house, 
which  he  is  expected  to  keep  in  the  best  possible  order,  accord- 
ing to  the  system  which  he  lays  down  for  others,  —  so  that  he 
is  called  upon  to  teach  by  example  as  well  as  precept. 

The  same  arrangement  has  been  made,  at  the  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Blacker,  on  the  farm  of  Lady  Bassett,  near  Camborne,  in 
Cornwall,  which  I  had  the  pleasure  to  visit.  Here,  too,  it  works 
well.  The  farmers  in  Cornwall  hold  larger  farms  than  in 
Armagh,  and  therefore  have  a  higher  idea  of  their  own  impor- 
tance. They  were  at  first  very  jealous  of  the  direct  approaches 
of  the  agriculturist  to  advise  and  instruct  them.  But  by  a  little 
address,  and  by  especially  avoiding  any  thing  like  dogmatism  or 
self-conceit,  and  by  a  frank  manner  convincing  the  farmers  that 
he  was  disinterestedly  seeking  their  good,  his  success  is  becom- 
ing remarkable,  and  he  is  every  day  gaining  upon  their  esteem 
and  confidence.  A  horse,  loose  in  a  pasture,  can  rarely  be 
caught  if  you  approach  him  swinging  the  bridle,  the  emblem  of 
his  subjugation,  before  his  eyes  ;  but  if  you  go  to  him  shaking 
only  the  measure  of  oats  before  him,  and  concealing  the  bridle 
under  your  coat,  you  can  generally  take  him  without  difficulty. 
I  am  no  advocate  for  treachery  under  any  form ;  but  where  the 
object  aimed  at  is  unexceptionable  and  excellent,  I  see  no  occa- 
23* 


270 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


sion  for  unnecessarily  alarming  the  prejudices  of  those  whom  we 
wish  to  serve,  or  for  awakening  resistance  by  command,  when 
we  can  easily  enforce  acquiescence  by  persuasion. 

That  the  plan  is  sure  to  work  well  where  the  class  of  tenants, 
as  in  Armagh,  are  very  small  tenants,  and  ignorant  withal,  is 
quite  plain  ;  but  farmers  on  a  large  scale  would  be  likely  to 
reject  any  direct  interference.  Yet  these  men  often  need 
instruction.  The  knowledge  of  improvements,  in  some  cases, 
extends  itself  by  slow  degrees :  oral  instruction,  coupled  with 
familiar  illustrations,  is  always  more  interesting  than  books ;  and 
the  employment  of  an  agricultural  missionary,  of  unobtrusive 
and  kind  manners,  and  perfectly  competent  to  impart  instruction, 
to  visit  a  district  of  country,  that  he  might  point  out  errors  and 
defects  of  cultivation,  and  explain  the  best  modes  of  husbandry 
adapted  to  the  climate  and  locality,  would  prove  a  most  power- 
ful means  of  awakening  attention  to  the  subject,  of  reforming 
errors,  and  introducing  desirable  and  substantial  improvements. 


XLV.  —  GUANO. 

Having  now  completed  what  I  designed  to  say  upon  the  pro- 
vision for  agricultural  education  in  Great  Britain,  I  shall  beg  the 
indulgence  of  my  readers  in  reverting  to  a  topic  of  a  different 
character,  and  which,  in  a  more  methodical  arrangement,  would 
have  had  a  place  in  a  different  part  of  my  work.  A  strong  and 
impatient  desire  has  been  expressed  that  I  should  give  what 
information  I  possess  on  the  subject  of  the  recently-introduced 
and  most  extraordinary  manure  called  guano ;  and  I  therefore 
speak  of  it  in  this  place. 

I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  go  into  the  history  of  a  sub- 
stance which  has  been  made  so  familiar  by  the  public  discus- 
sions which  have  taken  place  in  relation  to  it.  That  it  is  an 
animal  deposit,  is  well  established.  It  is  the  excrement  of  sea- 
birds  accustomed  to  frequent  certain  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean 
and  other  places  in  the  tropical  latitudes.  Its  use  as  a  manure 
is  not  new  in  those  countries  where  it  has  been  found.     In  Peru, 


GUANO.  271 

the  birds  who  caused  the  deposit  were  protected  by  severe  laws, 
and  the  value  of  the  manure  was  fully  understood.  The  amount 
of  the  accumulations,  considering  the  nature  of  the  deposit,  is 
immense,  being  represented,  by  travellers,  as  from  three  to  seven 
hundred  feet  in  depth.  The  number  of  birds  is  stated  to  be 
almost  beyond  calculation  ,•  and  any  person  who  will  take  the 
trouble  to  read,  in  that  delightful  book,  Wilson's  Ornithology, 
the  accounts  of  the  roosting-places  of  the  passenger-pigeon  in 
some  of  the  Western  States  of  America,  will  readily  confide  in 
well-authenticated  accounts  of  the  number  of  these  birds,  which 
would  otherwise  be  deemed  egregious  exaggerations.  To  the 
gentlemen  in  England  who  are  fond  of  what  is  termed  a  battue, 
a  voyage  to  the  Pacific  to  shoot  the  guano  birds  would  afford 
excellent  sport ;  and  if  in  such  case  they  would  bring  back  loads 
of  this  valuable  manure,  it  might  not  prove  an  unprofitable  enter- 
prise, and  they  would  perform  a  double  work  of  conciliation  to 
the  farmers.  Their  accounts  of  one  or  two  days'  shooting,  or 
knocking  down  the  birds  with  the  butt-ends  of  their  guns, 
would  be  read  here  with  the  greatest  avidity,  and  eclipse  all 
their  former  exploits  of  killing  hundreds  of  game  in  a  single  day 
where  the  beaters  were  employed  to  drive  them  directly  under 
the  muzzles  of  their  guns,  and  where  occasionally  they  are 
obliged  to  knock  down  a  poacher  instead  of  a  penguin. 

These  deposits  are  made  in  a  climate  where,  for  a  considerable 
part  of  the  year,  little  rain  falls,  and  where  the  intense  heat  of 
the  sun  forms  such  a  crust  over  the  deposit,  that  it  becomes 
almost  insoluble.  Supposing  a  deposit  to  be  made  of  two  inches 
a  year,  for  three  thousand  years,  this  would  give  a  depth  of  five 
hundred  feet;  and  therefore  the  report  of  the  depth  of  these 
deposits,  though  surprising,  is  by  no  means  intrinsically  incred- 
ible. The  extraordinary  effect  of  this  manure  is  another  remark- 
able circumstance.  The  dung  of  the  domestic  pigeon  or  fowl  is 
among  the  strongest  used,  but  it  is  not  so  powerful  as  guano. 
In  the  excrements  of  birds,  the  solid  and  liquid  portions  are 
combined.  This  is  one  secret  of  their  strength.  In  the  case  of 
the  guano  birds,  their  food  is  wholly  fish,  and  not,  as  with  our 
domestic  birds,  mainly  farinaceous ;  and  therefore  it  abounds  in 
nitrogen,  and  in  bony  substances,  or  phosphates. 

The  secret  of  the  extraordinary  success  of  this  manure  is  not 
yet  solved,  ho wever ,  nearly  a  solution  may  have  been  approx- 


272  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

imated.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that,  after  the  most  exact 
and  minute  analysis  of  this  manure,  conducted  with  all  the  skill 
and  science  which  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  no  one  has 
been  able  to  form  an  artificial  guano  with  any  degree  of  its 
efficacy.  Chemistry  determines  with  wonderful  accuracy  its 
inorganic  properties ;  but  fifty  per  cent,  of  it  is  organic  matter, 
and  this  being  dissipated  or  lost  in  the  process  of  analysis,  noth- 
ing is  known  of  it  but  its  absolute  quantity.  Every  common 
farmer  knows  that  horse  manure,  cow  manure,  hog  manure, 
sheep  manure,  are  all  specifically  different,  and  their  eifects  and 
uses  are  different ;  and  I  believe  this  depends  not  more  upon  a 
difference  in  their  inorganic  elements,  than  upon  some  specific 
effects  of  their  organic  elements ;  and  though  horses,  and  cows, 
and  sheep,  should  be  fed  upon  precisely  the  same  food,  their 
excrementitious  matter  would  be  specifically  different,  and  the 
effects  upon  vegetation  different.  I  pretend  not  to  say  in  what 
this  difference  consists;  this,  chemistry  has  not  yet  reached, 
though  I  can  but  hope  the  goal  will  presently  be  attained.  I 
am  not  therefore  entirely  satisfied  with  any  account  which 
chemistry  has  given  of  guano,  so  far  as  its  operation  is  concerned. 
It  has  done  much,  and  is  clearly  able  to  determine  the  different 
specific  values  of  different  samples.  This  is  of  great  importance 
to  the  farmer,  and  not  less  so  to  the  honest  dealer.  But  the 
specific  qualities  of  this  extraordinary  manure,  as  proved  by  its 
effects,  arQ,  I  presume  to  believe,  with  all  possible  respect  for 
science,  yet  to  be  discovered.  I  know  the  consequences  of  ques- 
tioning the  infallibility  of  the  pope,  but  I  am  no  Catholic. 

One,  indeed,  may  well  speak  of  its  effects  as  extraordinary, 
from  what  I  myself  have  seen.  In  Scotland,  last  autumn,  two 
shrubs  were  shown  to  me,  sweet-briers,  growing  in  front  of  a 
two-story  house,  and  trained  upon  its  sides ;  one  at  one,  the 
other  at  the  other  end.  The  soil  in  which  they  grew,  the 
aspect,  and  other  circumstances,  were  the  same.  One,  in  the 
season,  had  grown  six  or  seven  feet ;  the  other,  nearly  thirty 
feet !  It  had  actually  climbed  to  the  roof  of  the  house,  and 
turned  and  hung  down,  reaching  half  the  distance  down  from 
the  roof  to  the  ground.  I  judged  this  could  not  have  been  Jess 
than  thirty  feet.  This  had  been  repeatedly  watered  with  liquid 
guano,  by  the  hands  of  its  fair  cultivator  ;  for  this  was  another 
experiment  by  a  lady,  (which  I  hope  my  American  friends  will 


GUANO.  273 

bear  in  mind.)  The  other  had  received  no  special  care  or 
manuring.  This  charming  woman,  surrounded  by  her  lovely 
children,  was  equally  engaged  in  teaching  the  young  idea  as  the 
sweet-brier  how  to  shoot,  and  they  too  showed  the  beautiful 
results  of  devoted  and  assiduous  culture. 

I  have  seen  the  extraordinary  effects  of  the  application  of 
guano  all  over  the  country,  and  I  have  met  with  very  few 
instances  of  disappointment.  I  have  been  favored  with  a  great 
many  reports  of  its  application ;  but  my  readers  will,  I  think,  be 
better  satisfied  with  general  results  than  with  a  long  list  of  par- 
ticular examples. 

When  I  speak  of  its  extraordinary  effects,  I  yet  do  not  con- 
sider them  as  so  surprising  as  the  effects  of  gypsum  in  many 
parts  of  the  United  States,  whose  operation,  I  venture  to  say, 
remains  wholly  unexplained.  I  do  not,  of  course,  mean  to 
imply  that  one  can  be  substituted  for  the  other.  The  effects  of 
half  a  bushel  of  finely-powdered  gypsum,  scattered  over  an  acre 
of  land,  in  some  places,  in  increasing  the  crop  of  grass,  and  in 
respect  to  some  other  crops,  is  amazing ;  yet  in  all  England,  I 
have  not  been  able  to  find  a  single  well-attested  example  of  its 
being  applied  with  any  benefit  whatever.  The  application  of 
guano  has  been  made,  in  England  and  Scotland,  to  all  kinds  of 
plants,  and  in  some  instances  with  great  success;  indeed  with 
rarely  a  failure. 

It  has  been  used  for  turnips,  barley,  wheat,  oats,  grass,  garden 
vegetables,  onions,  asparagus,  potatoes,  flowers,  and  trees.  I 
have  seen  its  application  in  all  these  cases,  excepting  asparagus 
and  trees ;  but  the  testimony  which  certifies  its  success  in  these 
cases  is  unquestionable.  Comparisons  made  between  guano  and 
other  manures,  are  not  quite  satisfactory  in  respect  to  quantities, 
because  it  is  obviously  very  difficult  to  institute  any  instructive 
comparison  between  so  many  pounds  of  guano,  and  so  many 
loads  of  manure ;  manure  is  so  various  in  its  nature,  quality, 
bulk,  &c. ;  but  it  will  be  quite  easy  to  compare  the  two  in 
respect  to  the  ease  or  difficulty  of  their  transportation,  and  of 
their  application  to  the  plant  or  soil.  Comparisons,  likewise,  in 
respect  to  the  cost  of  different  applications,  as  made  here,  would 
be  of  little  use  in  the  United  States,  as  prices  of  manure  and  of 
labor  are  totally  different ;  and  the  one  can  afford  no  rule  for  the 


274  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

Other.  In  this  matter,  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  musk 
judge  for  themselves. 

The  quantity  which  it  is  deemed  best  to  apply  varies  from 
two  hundred  weight  to  four  hundred  weight,  or  five  hundred 
weight.  Frequent  cases  have  occurred  of  the  application  of  five 
hundred  weight  and  eight  hundred  weight,  to  a  statute  acre,  with 
great  advantage.  Cases  are  on  record  of  twenty-nine  and  thirty 
hundred  weight  being  applied  to  grass-land  with  a  great,  but  not, 
most  certainly,  a  remunerating  increase  of  crop.  I  met  one  farm- 
er in  Lincolnshire,  who  thought  more  than  one  hundred  weight 
applied  to  turnips  was  unnecessary ;  but  the  almost  universal 
testimony  is  in  favor  of  three  hundred  weight.  A  bushel  of 
sifted  guano  weighs  from  fifty-two  to  fifty-four  pounds. 

In  regard  to  the  mode  of  application,  it  is  well  settled  that  it 
should  seldom  be  applied  alone.  To  garden  vegetables,  or 
greenhouse  plants,  it  may  be  applied  in  a  state  of  solution  in 
water.  In  field  cultivation,  it  may  be  applied  by  being  mixed 
with  four  or  six  times  its  quantity  of  dry  earth  or  mould.  In 
this  way,  it  may  be  sown  broadcast  over  the  field,  and  then 
lightly  harrowed  or  turned  in ;  or  it  may  be  sown  first  in  the 
same  drill  where  the  seed  is  to  be  dropped ;  great  care  must  be 
taken,  however,  that  it  does  not  come  in  contact  with  the  seed, 
or  it  will  destroy  its  vegetative  powers.  It  is  desirable  that  it 
should  be  covered  as  soon  as  may  be  after  being  sown.  The 
best  farmers  give  a  caution  against  mixing  it  with  lime,  or 
bones,  or  wood-ashes,  as  these  substances,  coming  in  contact 
with  it,  will  drive  off  its  ammonia. 

Where  a  portion  of  barn  manure  has  been  applied  in  conjunc- 
tion with  guano,  the  mixture  has  been  found  much  more  effica- 
cious than  the  manure  when  applied  alone.  In  an  application 
which  I  saw,  guano  gave  seven  tons  of  turnips  increase  to  an 
acre  over  an  artificial  manure  which  had  been  much  praised,  and 
was  applied  at  th€  same  time. 

A  good  mode  of  preparing  it  for  application  is  to  mix  it  with 
fine  earth,  on  the  headlands  of  the  field  where  it  is  to  be  used, 
forming  it,  with  the  earth,  into  alternate  layers,  in  the  proportion 
of  earth  to  the  guano  of  three  to  one ;  and  after  it  has  remained 
two  or  three  days,  thoroughly  incorporating  them  together  by 
turning  over  the  heap. 


.  With  potatoes,  it  should  be  placed  in  the  drill  or  hole,  but  not 
in  contact  with  the  set  or  seed  ;  and  for  Indian  corn  —  a  case  in 
which  I  have  had  no  experience  —  it  would  seem  advisable  to 
adopt  a  similar  method. 

The  experiments  of  Mr.  John  Dudgeon  have  been  given  to 
the  public  at  large.  As  I  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  his  farm, 
one  of  the  best-managed  in  the  kingdom,  and  saw  some  of  the 
experiments  going  on,  I  feel  at  liberty  to  give  them,  and  it  may- 
be interesting  to  my  readers  to  have  them  in  his  own  words. 

*'  The  following  results,  communicated  by  John  Dudgeon, 
Esq.,  of  Spylaw,  to  the  Highland  and  Agricultural  Society,  in 
April,  1843,  show,  first,  the  relative  produce  of  turnips  from 
guano  applied  at  the  rate  of  three  hundred  weight,  four  hundred 
weight,  and  five  hundred  weight,  per  acre,  in  competition  with 
the  produce  from  the  farm-yard  manure,  applied  at  the  rate  of 
eighteen  yards  per  acre  ;  secondly,  the  trial  of  bone-dust  with 
coal-ashes  against  guano  alone,  and  guano  mixed  with  a  portion 
of  sulphate  of  soda;  thirdly,  the  trial  of  guano  alone  against 
bone-dust  alone. 

'' '  The  first  experiment  was  in  a  field  lying  upon  a  slope, 
with  a  southern  exposure,  the  soil  consisting  of  a  good  loam 
upon  a  retentive  sub-soil ;  the  upper  part  of  the  field,  for  about  a 
fourth  of  its  length,  gradually  becoming  shallower  in  soil,  and 
resting  upon  a  hard  muirland  pan,  so  that  the  value  of  the  lower 
portion  of  the  field,  as  compared  with  the  upper,  may  be  esti- 
mated as  three  to  one.  This  field  has  been  but  imperfectly 
drained.  It  was  dunged  in  the  usual  way,  immediately  before 
sowing,  with  well-prepared  farm-yard  manure,  at  the  rate  of 
about  eighteen  cubic  yards  to  the  acre,  with  the  exception  of 
that  portion  to  which  guano  was  applied.  Two  ordinary  drills 
for  the  latter  were  selected  at  random,  and  the  guano  distributed 
in  them  by  the  hand,  without  any  mixture,  at  the  rate  of  three 
hundred  weight  per  acre.  Leaving  an  interval  of  three  drills, 
which  were  manured  like  the  rest  of  the  field,  two  other  drills 
were  treated  with  guano,  at  the  rate  of  four  hundred  weight  per 
acre ;  and  finally,  with  a  similar  space  intervening,  two  drills 
with  guano  at  the  rate  of  fully  more  than  five  hundred  weight 
per  acre.  No  diff*erence  appeared  in  the  turnips  (which  were  the 
variety  named  Dale's  hybrid)  previous  to  singling  or  thinning 
the  plants  with  the  hoe  ;  after  that,  however,  the  superiority  of 


276  EUROPEAN     AdRieULTURE. 

the  drills  with  the  guano  became  manifest,  and  continued  to 
increase  with  the  growth  of  the  turnips,  particularly  in  those 
drills  which  received  the  greatest  quantity,  till  the  whole  were 
carted  off  in  October,  when  the  produce  (topped  and  rooted)  of 
the  whole  six  drills  were  weighed,  each  two  as  differing  in  the 
quantity  of  guano  applied,  compared  with  two  drills  immediately 
adjoining,  on  which  the  farm-yard  manure  had  been  used.  The 
following  was  the  result :  — 


Kinds 

of  Manure. 

Quantities  api 

olied. 

Produce  per  Acre. 

Two  drills 

;  with 

GUANO,    . 

.     5  cwt. 

per 

acre, 

.  .  25  cwt.  5  St. 

u          a 

a 

dung,    . 

.   18  yds. 

(': 

11 

.  .  18 

11      J  11 

11            u 

a 

GUANO,    . 

.     4  cwt. 

a 

11 

.  .  22 

11          6   u 

u         a 

li 

dung,    . 

.  18  yds. 

'' 

(I 

.  .  19 

U           r^    U 

11         a 

u 

GUANO,   . 

.     3  cwt. 

u 

li 

.  .  20 

u        6  u 

a          a 

a 

dung,    . 

.  18  yds. 

li 

11 

.  .  19 

11    ^11 

''  *  In  the  second  experiment,  a  comparative  trial  was  made 
between  guano  and  hone-dust  mixed  loith  coal-ashes.  The 
ashes  were  sifted,  and  intimately  mixed  with  the  bones,  some 
days  before  being  applied,  in  the  proportion  of  sixteen  bushels  of 
bones  and  eight  of  ashes,  per  acre.  The  quantity  of  guano 
applied  was  at  the  rate  of  three  hundred  weight  per  acre  upon 
four  drills,  two  and  two  together,  at  an  interval  of  eight  drills 
manured  with  bones  and  ashes.  Then,  at  a  similar  interval, 
followed  two  drills,  operated  upon  with  guano  together  with 
sulphate  of  soda,  (Glauber  salts,)  at  the  rate  of  four  hundred 
weight  per  acre  —  being  the  only  instance,  in  the  course  of  these 
experiments,  in  which  any  foreign  substance  was  used  with  the 
guano.  The  turnips  were  drawn  about  the  end  of  November  ; 
and  on  a  comparison  of  the  weight  of  the  crop  on  two  of  the 
four  drills  done  with  guano  alone,  with  the  produce  of  the 
average  of  four  drills,  nearly  immediately  adjoining,  manured 
with  hone-dust  and  ashes,  the  result  stood  thus  (the  plants  being 
topped  and  rooted) :  — 

Manures.  Produce  per  Acre. 

GuANO,  alone, 23  cwt.  2  st. 

Guano  and  sulphate  of  soda, 23     '^     0    '' 

Bone-dust, 19     "     2    '' 


GUANO. 


27r 


"  •  In  the  third  experiment,  guano  was  used  against  hone-dust 
alone,  applied,  as  is  usual  in  that  district,  at  the  rate  of  sixteen 
bushels  per  acre.  The  guano  was  used  at  the  rate  of  two  hun- 
dred weight  only  per  acre.  The  drills  manured  with  the  latter 
showed  a  very  early  superiority,  and  were  ready  for  the  hoe 
fully  eight  days  earlier  than  the  rest  of  the  field.  This  more 
vigorous  growth  they  maintained  throughout;  and  when  the 
turnips  (the  white  stone  globe  variety)  were  weighed,  on  the 
22d  March,  after  standing  throughout  the  winter,  the  result  was 
as  follows  (the  roots  and  tops  being  in  this  instance  retained):  — 

''  'Two  drills  guano, 31  cwt.  4  st. 

Two     "     bone-dust, 24  cwt.  7  st.'  " 

*'  The  following  table,  extracted  from  the  Scotsman,  is  the 
result  of  an  experiment  on  a  field  which  had,  till  the  present 
crop,  been  in  grass  from  time  immemorial.  The  soil  was  a  dry, 
friable  loam.  The  turnips  were  sown  on  the  20th  of  May,  and 
lifted  and  weighed  on  the  27th  of  November,  1843. 


Kinds  and  Quantities  of 
Jdanvjrea  used  per  Jicre. 


Price  of 

Manure 

per 

Acre. 


Weight  of 
Turnips  without 
Roots  or  Tops. 


Weight  of 

Weight  of 

Roots  and 

rotten 

Tops. 

Turnips. 

T.  C.   lb. 

T.  C.     lb. 

6  m  11 

1  13    17 

6  15      6 

2  12    13 

5    1|  14 

0  14    22 

5    9      0 

2    8i    6 

Weight  of 

total  Product 

per  Acre. 


Gn^NO,  5  cwts.  .  .  . 
Farm  dung,  12  carts, 
Bones,  26|  bushels. 
Rape-dust,  12  cwts. 


£  s. 

2  15 

3  12 
3  3 
3    0 


T.  C.  lb. 
29  17  13 
25  7  8 
25  12.i  12 
22  19i  22 


T.  C.  lb. 
38  2|  13 
34  14  27 
31  8i  20 
30  17^  0.' 


Guano  has  been  applied  to  winter  wheat,  both  in  drills  and 
broadcast,  and  with  signal  success.  It  has  been  applied,  like- 
wise, with  great  success,  to  grass  and  pasture  land,  as  the  follow- 
ing statement  will  show :  — 

"  On  an  eight-acre  field,  sown  with  three  hundred  weight  of 
guano,  and  three  bushels  of  Italian  rye-grass  per  acre,  on  the 
29th  of  April,  cut  on  the  3d  of  August,  the  produce  weighed, 
when  cut,  eighteen  tons,  and  when  dry  and  ready  for  stack,  four 
tons,  per  acre.  Much  of  this  crop  was  upwards  of  five  feet  long. 
So  rapid  was  the  growth,  that,  fifty  hours  after  cutting,  it  had 
again  sprung  up  to  the  height  of  three  and  one  eighth  inches. 
With  such  grass,  and  such  manure,  so  easily  convertible  into 
liquid,  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  cottager,  with  his  five 
roods  of  land,  could  supply  his  house  with  vegetables,  and  cow 
with  winter  and  summer  food,  thereby  providing  for  his  family 
an  almost  entire  subsistence." 
24 


278  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

'  It  has  been  questioned  whether  its  effects  will  be  permanent. 
I  can  only  answer,  that  I  have  seen  its  obviously  beneficial 
effects  three  years  after  its  application  upon  grass.  How  much 
longer  its  efficacy  may  be  expected  to  continue,  experience  only 
can  determine. 

Several  kinds  of  guano  have  been  brought  into  Great  Britain ; 
but  the  great  distinction  is  between  that  from  the  Island  of 
Ichaboe,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  that  from  the  islands  in  the 
Pacific.  The  former  seems  entirely  deficient  in  uric  acid,  and 
consequently  lacks  what  is  deemed  a  valuable  element  in  vege- 
tation. The  comparative  value  of  the  two  in  public  estimation, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  a  distinguished  chemist,  is  supposed  to  be 
as  four  to  five.  The  supply  from  Ichaboe  is  said  to  be  ex- 
hausted, the  enormous  quantity  of  five  to  six  hundred  thousand 
tons  having  been  taken,  as  is  stated,  from  that  single  island. 

I  should  do  wrong  to  say  that  guano  is  always  successful. 
There  were  many  complaints  this  year  of  its  failure,  attributed 
to  the  excessive  droughts  which  prevailed  at  the  beginning  of 
the  season.  A  farmer  likewise,  in  Cambridgeshire,  communi- 
cates to  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  in  their  last  journal,  his 
failure  in  two  successive  applications  of  it  to  crops  of  barley.  In 
neither  instance  does  any  advantage  appear  to  have  been  gained. 
He  attributes  this  to  something  in  the  nature  or  character  of  the 
soil ;  but  this,  without  further  trials,  must  be  set  down  as  wholly 
conjectural. 

It  is  quite  proper,  likewise,  that  I  should  urge  upon  the  farm- 
ers of  the  United  States,  that,  however  auspicious  and  brilliant 
may  be  the  promises  which  guano  holds  out  to  them,  they  must 
not  overlook  the  resources  for  enriching  their  own  lands  within 
their  own  reach.  The  following  statement  will  strengthen  this 
advice. 

Philip  Pusey,  Esq.,  M.  P.,  than  whom,  I  believe,  wherever  his 
character  for  intelligent,  accurate,  and  philosophical  observation 
is  known,  it  will  be  universally  admitted,  there  is  no  higher 
agricultural  authority  in  England,  informed  me  that,  the  last 
season,  he  carted  to  the  headlands  of  one  of  his  fields  a  quantity 
of  loam,  mixed  with  coal-ashes  and  rubbish,  and,  having  formed 
it  into  a  bed,  heaped  upon  it  a  quantity  of  barn  manure,  from 
the  drippings  of  which  the  loam,  &c.,  became  completely  satu- 
rated.    Upon  the  application  of  this  to  the  land  for  a  crop  of 


GUANO.  279 

turnips,  by  the  side  of  the  same  crop  manured  with  three  hun- 
dred weight  of  guano,  the  advantage  was  very  greatly  in  favor 
of  the  former. 

Mr.  James  Smith,  of  Deanston,  states  that  a  friend  of  his  ma- 
nured three  acres ;  the  first  with  fifteen  tons  of  stable-dung,  cost 
£4 ;  the  second  acre  with  three  hundred  weight  of  guano,  cost 
£1,  6s.  ;  the  third  acre  with  eight  tons  of  liquid  manure,  cost 
2  s.  6d. ;  and  the  crop  on  the  last  was  far  the  best.  Dr.  Playfair 
was  kind  enough  to  communicate  to  me  this  statement. 

In  an  admirable  lecture,  delivered  by  the  last-named  active 
and  intelligent  friend  of  an  improved  agriculture,  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  that  gentleman  saw  fit  to 
state  that  one  pound  of  urine  contained  materials  for  producing 
one  pound  of  Avheat ;  and  that  the  effete  matter  which  runs  into 
the  Thames,  annually,  from  the  city  of  London,  amounts  to 

1,095,000,000  pounds  in  one  year, 
and  contains  nitrogen  sufficient  to  produce 

1,600,000,000  pounds  of  wheat, 
1,800,000,000  pounds  of  barley  ; 
and,  calculating  this  waste  at  a  moderate  value,  for  agricultu- 
ral purposes,  London  suffers  a  loss  of  £1,000,000  sterling,  or 
5,000,000  dollars  per  year. 

These  curious  statistics  will,  I  know,  give  no  offence  to  any 
sensible  person  ,•  and  they  may  suggest  considerations  of  the 
very  highest  moment  to  the  rising  cities  of  the  United  States, 
where  the  sanatary  and  economical  arrangements  are  not  com- 
pleted, and  in  many  cases  not  begun.  They  especially  enforce 
upon  every  individual  farmer  the  duty  of  examining  and  hus- 
banding, with  a  miserly  frugality,  all  the  resources  of  his  own 
farm,  even  the  most  inconsiderable  and  humble.  They  have,  I 
may  be  allowed  to  say,  a  far  higher  use  by  leading  the  reflecting 
and  serious  mind  to  admire  and  adore  the  never-ending  circles 
of  the  divine  beneficence ;  the  mixed  and  wonderful  compensa- 
tions and  mutual  subserviences  which  pervade  the  whole  system 
of  nature ;  and,  above  all,  that  constant  miracle  of  miracles,  going 
on  continually  in  the  vegetable  world,  by  which  the  most  worth- 
less and  the  most  offensive  substances  are  returned  again  to  bless 
the  animal  creation,  in  those  substantial  products  by  which  life 
is  sustained,  and  comfort  every  where  diffused,  in  fruits  most 
delicious  to  the  senses,  and  in  plants,  and  flowers,  which,  in 


280 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


their  variety,  and  beauty,  and  wonderful  glory  and  splendor, 
infinitely  surpass  the  highest  triumphs  of  human  art  and  luxury. 
I  think  proper  here  to  subjoin  several  analyses  of  guano  with 
which  I  have  been  favored  by  a  most  accurate  chemist,  Mr. 
E.  F.  Teschemacher,  to  Avhose  unremitted  kindness,  in  various 
forms,  I  am  most  deeply  obliged.  Indeed,  when  I  think  of  the 
debts  which  I  have  incurred,  in  this  way,  and  which  have  been 
forced  upon  me,  on  this  side  of  the  water,  I  fear  nothing  is  left 
for  me  but  to  take  advantage  of  the  act  of  general  bankruptcy, 
with  the  mortification  of  feeling,  from  the  number  of  my  cred- 
itors, how  very  small  a  dividend  can  be  made. 


"  Dear  Sir  : 

'^  I  have  taken  the  first  moment 


I  had  to  spare,  to  fulfil 


my  promise  of  giving  you  some  details  relative  to  guanoes  — espe- 
cially the  analyses  of  the  various  kinds  imported  within  the  last 
eighteen  months  into  this  country,  which  have  come  under  my 
cognizance.  The  analyses  were  performed  by  me  during  the 
course  of  my  business,  and  are  so  arranged  that  a  comparison  may 
be  easily  made  between  them.  Upon  comparing  these  analyses 
with  those  of  other  analysts,  I  find  them  generally  to  agree  in  all 
their  essential  characters. 


"  No,  1.     Peruvian. 

"100   parts  consist  of  9  parts 
of  ammonia,  combined  with 
phosphoric,     carbonic,    uric, 
and     organic      acids,    form- 
ing, of 
Ammoniacal  salts,    .     .     .40 
Animal  organic  matter,      .     6J 
Sulphate   and   muriate    of 

potash  and  soda,  .     .     .  llj 
Phosphate    of    lime    and 

magnesia, 29  J 

Sand, 1 

Water, lU 

100 
^'  The     Peruvian     contains 
llj  parts  of  uric  acid. 


"  No.  2.     Bolivian. 

"  100  parts   contain  lOJ  parts 

ammonia,  combined  as  in  No. 

1,  forming,  of 
Ammoniacal  salts,    ...  36 
Animal  organic  matter,      .     5 
Sulphate  and   muriate    of 

potash  and  soda, .     .     .   155 
Phosphate     of    lime    and 

magnesia, 27| 

Sand, ,     .     14 

Water, 14 

100 

"  The   Bolivian    contains   3 
per  cent,  of  uric  acid. 


GUANO. 


mi 


"  The  uric  acid  is  considered  to  furnish  the  crops  with  additional 
ammonia,  which,  after  application,  is  given  out  by  degrees. 


''No.  3.      Chilian. 

"100  parts  containing  3  parts 
ammonia,  combined  with 
phosphoric,  oxahc,  carbonic, 
humic,  and  organic  acids, 
forming,  of 

Ammoniacal  salts,    .     .     . 

Animal  organic  matter,     . 

Sulphate  and   muriate   of 
potash  and  soda,  .     .     . 

Phosphate  of  lime  and  mag- 
nesia, and  oxalate  lime, . 

Sand, 

Water,  .     .     .     .  ^.     .     . 


m 
n 

53 

2 
_22J 

100 


"This    guano    contains    no 
uric  acid. 

''No.  4.     Ichaboe  Guano. 

"100  parts  containing  7 J  parts 

ammonia,     combined     with 

phosphoric,  oxalic,  carbonic, 

and  humic  acids,  forming,  of 

Ammoniacal  salts,    .     .     .  26J 

Animal  organic  matter,      .     7i 

Sulphate  and   muriate   of 

potash,    and    phosphate 

potash, 10 

Phosphate  lime,  and  mag- 
nesia, and  oxalate  lime,  30 


Sand, 


1 


Water, 25 

100 

"  Contains  no  uric  acid. 

24* 


"No.  5.     Angra  de  Pequena, 

"100  parts  contain  5  parts  am- 
monia, combined  as  in  No.  4, 
forming,  of 
Ammoniacal  salts,      ...  20 
Animal  organic  matter,  .     .     5 
Sulphate    and    muriate    of 
potash,     and     phosphate 


potash, 


11 


Phosphate  of  lime  and  mag- 
nesia, and  oxalate  lime,  .  32 

Sand, .  2 

Water, 30 

1^ 

"No  uric  acid. 

"No.  6.     Possession  Island. 

"  Very  like  that  from  Angra 
de  Pequena,  but  very  lumpy. 
"  No  uric  acid. 

"No.  7.     Pedestal  Point. 

"  100  parts  contain  4J  parts  am- 
monia, combined  as  in  No. 
4,  forming,  of 
Ammoniacal  salts,   .     .     .14 
Animal  organic  matter,     .     6 
Sulphate  and   muriate   of 
potash,    and   phosphate 

potash, 6J 

Phosphate  of  lime  and  mag- 
nesia, and  oxalate  lime,  37 

Sand, 7 

Water, ._29J 

100 
"  No  uric  acid. 


282  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

*' No.  8.     Bird  Islands  ;  Algoa  Bay, 

"  100  parts  contain  2^  parts  ammonia,  combined  as  in  No.  4, 
forming,  of 

Ammoniacal  salts, .  10 J 

Animal  organic  matter, .  8J 

Sulphate  and  muriate  of  potash, 2J 

Phosphate  of  lime  and  magnesia,  (no  oxalate  lime,)    ...  62 

Sand, .     .  IJ 

Water, ._15 

100 

"No.  8  contains  no  uric  acid. 

''No.  1  to  3  are  South  American  guanoes. 
"No.  4  to  8  are  African  guanoes. 

"  I  have  examined  guano  from  other  localities,  but  as  I  do  not 
know  those  localities,  I  have  omitted  them  in  the  list. 


^^  Guano  Testing. 

"  1.  A  small  portion,  about  100  grains,  mixed  and  rubbed  with 
10  parts  of  chalk  to  1  part  of  quick-lime,  should  give  out  a 
strong  smell  of  ammonia ;  and  on  holding  over  the  mixture  a 
glass  rod  moistened  with  muriatic  acid,  a  dense  white  vapor 
should  be  given  off.  If  this  effect  does  not  take  place,  the 
guano  will  contain  very  little  ammoniacal  salts. 

"  2.  100  grains  guano,  heated  to  redness  in  a  Hessian  crucible, 
should  leave  a  white  ash.  This  white  ash  should  be  nearly 
soluble  in  dilute  muriatic  acid.  The  residue  should  not  exceed 
10  grains ;  in  good  guano,  the  residue  would  be  only  1  or  2 
grains. 

"  The  quantity  of  white  ash  will  vary  from  30  to  60  per  cent., 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  guano. 

"Yours   truly, 

"E.  F.  Teschemacher. 

"No.  2  Park  Terrace^  Highbury, 
24  January,  1845." 


I 


GUANO.      UMJIif? 


283 


I  add  to  these  some  analyses  forwarded  to  me  from  the  Edin- 
burgh Agricultural  Chemical  Association,  by  my  esteemed  friend, 
Mr.  John  P.  Norton. 


"  Two  Guanoes  from  Ichaboe, 

No.  I. 

Water, 20.46 

Organic  matter  and  ammoniacal  salts,     .  44.96 
Sulphate   of  soda  and   potash,    with  ^ 

common  salt, 5 

Phosphates  of  lime  and  magnesia,      .     .  27.31 

Carbonate  of  lime, 0.07  > 

Silicious  matter, 2.15  3 

3  per  cent,  free  ammonia  in  No.  I.     .     .  99.44 

*^  These  are  fair  samples  of  the  Ichaboe  guanoes, 
defect  is  too  much  water. 


No.  II. 
.  18  00 
.  52.60 

.     4.89 

.  19.22 

.     4.83 

.  99.54 


Their  only 


'^Ttoo  South  American  Guanoes. 


Water  and  free  ammonia,     .... 
Organic  matter  and  ammoniacal  salts. 
Sulphate  and  muriate  of  soda,  .     .     . 
Phosphate  of  lime,  and  a  little  phos- 
phate of  magnesia, 

Carbonates  of  lime  and  magnesia, 
Insoluble  silicious  matter,    .... 


Peruvian. 

Bolivian 

.     3.14    . 

.     5.34 

.  63.52     . 

.  58.00 

.     5.02     . 

.     6.37 

'   22.20     . 

.  25.27 

.     4.96     . 

.     3.95 

.     1.16     . 

.     1.07 

100.00 


100.00. 


"  These  are  both  most  excellent  guanoes.  The  small  proportion 
of  water  is  remarkable,  and  the  large  quantity  of  organic  matter 
and  ammoniacal  salts.  This  first,  and  then  the  phosphates,  are 
the  criteria  of  value.  Carbonate  of  lime,  sulphate  and  muriate 
of  soda,  &c.,  are  valuable  manures,  but  may  be  bought  lower 
than  £6  or  £8  per  ton. 


284  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


^^ Artificial  Guano j  (Potter^ s.) 

Water, 14.55 

Organic  matter, 17.32 

Salts  soluble  in  water,  consisting  of  common  salt  and 
gypsum,  with  a  small  quantity  of  potash  and  am- 

moniacal  salts, 40.43 

Phosphate  and  carbonate  of  lime, 11.61 

Coarse  sand,  with  bits  of  gypsum, 16.06 

99.97 

'^  This,  therefore,  contains  30  per  cent,  of  water  and  sand.  One 
by  the  same  maker,  previously  examined,  had  about  30  per  cent, 
of  sand  alone." 

The  following  is  from  a  chemist  of  the  highest  scientific 
character.  Dr.  Ure  :  — 

"  Reserving,  for  the  present,  the  more  particular  analyses,  the 
following  may  be  offered  as  the  average  result  of  those  I  have 
made  of  genuine  guano,  in  reference  to  its  agricultural  value  :  — 

"  Azotized  organic  matter,  including  urate  of  ammonia, 
and  capable  of  affording  from  8  to  17  per  cent,  of 
ammonia  by  slow  decomposition  in  the  soil,   .     .     .60.0 

Water, .  -.  11.0 

Phosphate  of  lime, 'nX-*^ .  25.0 

Ammonia,  phosphate  of  magnesia,  phosphate  of  ammo- 
nia, and  oxalate  of  ammonia,  containing  from  4  to 

9  per  cent,  of  ammonia, 13.0 

Silicious  matter  from  the  crops  of  the  birds,  ....     1.0 

100.0." 


*%*■ 


^ 
^ 


-^ 


1^    ^ 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


FOURTH  REPORT 


XLVL— GENERAL   CONSIDERATIONS. 

The  great  incentive  to  all  agricultural  improvement  is  profit. 
The  man  who  is  satisfied  with  a  bare  subsistence  will  do  little 
towards  making  his  condition  better.  It  is  one  of  the  prominent 
blessings  of  civilization,  that  it  multiplies  human  wants  and 
desires  to  such  a  degree  as  to  call  out  all  the  powers  of  the  body 
and  mind  to  supply  them.  In  proportion  as  civilization  is 
advanced,  human  wants  increase.  From  necessities  we  proceed 
to  indulgences,  from  indulgences  to  luxuries ;  until  what  were 
at  first  indulgences  and  luxuries  become  themselves  transformed 
into  necessities.  Out  of  these  spring  other  indulgences  and 
other  luxuries,  which  go  on  by  a  sort  of  reduplication  or  spon- 
taneous generation,  to  which  as  yet  no  limits  have  been  reached, 
and  we  have  reason  to  think  that  none  are  very  near.  When 
one  class  or  species  fails,  or  passes  away,  others  come  into  its 
place,  like  sprouts  springing  from  the  living  stump  of  a  tree 
which  has  been  cut  down ;  or  like  the  countless  plants  which 
come  up  where  a  single  plant  has  been  suflfered  to  ripen  and  to 
shed  its  seed. 

Besides  this  effect  of  use  or  indulgence  in  increasing,  and  in 
giving  an  insatiableness  to,  human  wants,  there  is  an  original  and 
native  element  of  the  human  mind,  which  the  phrenologists 
designate  as  acquisitiveness,  or  a  desire  to  obtain.  This,  when 
joined  with  secretiveness,  becomes  a  desire  to  keep  or  to  accumu- 


286  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

late  as  well  as  to  obtain,  which,  though  liable  to  abuse,  yet,  like 
all  other  original  tendencies  of  our  nature,  is  designed  for  good. 
This  operates  as  a  continual  stimulus  to  exertion,  and  rouses 
energies,  and  awakens  an  ambition,  and  strengthens  and  pro- 
duces a  perseverance  and  tenacity  of  purpose,  which,  in  the 
creation  and  accumulation  of  wealth,  lie  at  the  foundation  of 
most  of  the  great  improvements  of  society,  and  again  in  its  turn 
creates  a  power  or  instrument  of  influence,  which  itself  com- 
mands thousands  of  minds,  and  thousands  of  hands,  to  unite  with 
an  energy  similar  to  its  own  in  the  accomplishment  of  its  own 
objects. 

All  this  does  good ;  prevents  the  waters  of  society  from  be- 
coming stagnant  and  unwholesome,  and  keeps  them  in  a  state 
of  continued  and  healthful  agitation.  If  human  wants,  having 
a  sort  of  polypus  vitality,  are  constantly  increased  by  being  sup- 
plied, it  is  no  less  true  that  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  and 
body  are  always  increased  and  strengthened  by  being  properly 
exerted.  As  the  mind  becomes  enlightened  and  expanded,  it  is 
tempted  to  extend  its  dominion  over  matter  and  over  other 
minds.  In  the  spirit  of  an  ambition  never  knowing  enough,  it 
goes  out  "conquering  and  to  conquer."  It  invades  other 
dominions  of  nature,  and  makes  every  where  the  elements  of 
the  material  world  subservient  to  its  purposes. 

It  is  said  that  an  Indian,  when,  on  a  certain  occasion,  he  was 
brought  from  the  solitude  and  destitution  of  his  forest-home  into 
a  busy  manufacturing  town,  and  saw  windmills  with  their  sails 
inflated  by  the  air,  and  water-wheels  driven  by  the  running 
stream,  and  steam-engines  impelled  by  an  agent  of  which  before 
he  had  scarcely  conceived,  and  the  furnaces  where,  by  the  appli- 
cations of  fire,  the  iron-stones  were  made  to  flow  in  liquid 
streams,  and  to  take  the  forms  which  the  workman's  pleasure 
dictated,  exclaimed,  in  his  amazement,  that  the  white  man  made 
every  thing  work  for  him — the  fire,  the  air,  the  water.  Nothing 
could  have  been  more  natural  thaa  his  surprise.  Thus  it  is  that 
human  genius  devotes  itself  to  science  ;  and  every  step  in  science 
imparts  a  disposition  and  capacity  to  advance  farther.  It  invents 
language  and  signs,  that  it  may  transfix,  and  hold  fast,  thoughts, 
and  facts,  and  discoveries,  for  further  use.  It  employs  the  powers 
of  nature  to  increase,  and  multiply,  and  strengthen,  other  powers, 
and  thus  is  constantly  extending  its  sovereignty  over  mind  and 


GENERAL    CONSIDERATIONS.  28T 

matter,  and  assuming  more  and  more  to  itself,  in  its  humble 
capacities,  the  character  of  a  creator.  Thus  it  is  that  the  fruitful 
powers  of  nature  are  called  forth  ;  the  means  of  animal  life  and 
subsistence  extended ;  the  productions  of  the  earth  increased,  di- 
versified, and  improved.  Under  an  improved  cultivation,  ten  men 
find  ample  and  luxurious  support,  where,  before,  one  would  have 
starved.  New  vegetables  and  new  fruits  are  brought  into 
existence  and  use,  or  others  rendered  more  abundant ;  and  with 
the  increase  of  vegetable,  the  increase  of  animal  life  is  immeas- 
urably extended.  Thus  it  is  that  new  forms  of  comfort,  luxury, 
and  ornament  appear  with  corresponding  wants  on  the  part  of 
those  who  are  to  enjoy  them  ;  new  means  of  subsistence  are 
supplied ;  new  forms  of  habitation  are  demanded ;  new  articles 
of  clothing  are  provided.  All  the  wonders  of  art  spring  up ;  the 
multiplied  embellishments  of  refined  life  present  themselves ; 
and  the  progress  of  society  is  in  all  respects  advanced  and  con- 
tinually advancing. 

All  this  grows  out  of  that  original  element  of  the  human  mind 
to  which  I  early  alluded, — acquisitiveness,  the  desire  of  gain,  or 
advance,  or  betterment,  or  profit, — which  thus  stimulates  men  to 
the  continual  improvement  of  their  condition.  But  all  this,  we 
are  told  by  some  men,  springs  from  selfishness,  and  they  de- 
nounce it  as  criminal.  Their  denunciations  are  without  reason, 
and  they  make  no  just  discrimination  between  the  different  con- 
ditions of  a  principle  which  in  its  original  nature  is  wholesome 
and  useful,  and  becomes  wrong  and  pernicious  only  by  its  ex- 
travagance and  abuse. 

What  would  man  be  without  any  regard  to  his  own  interest  ? 
It  is  an  instinctive  impulse  which  prompts  us  to  take  care  of 
our  lives.  Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  our  nature.  But 
the  same  law  implies  the  most  diligent  care  of  our  health,  and 
all  that  varied  and  extended  provision  for  health  and  comfort, 
necessary  to  the  continuance  of  life,  and  to  its  continuance  under 
circumstances  most  favorable  to  its  activity,  usefulness,  and 
reasonable  enjoyment.  But  who  is  to  take  care  of  us,  if  we  do 
not  take  care  of  ourselves  ?  If  every  man,  instead  of  providing 
for  his  own  wants,  gave  himself  up  to  the  care  of  his  neighbor 
it  is  not  easy  to  see  that  any  advantage  would  be  gained  by  it. 
Every  one  would  find  that,  besides  multiplied  inconveniences, 
the  provision  for  himself  would  be  far  less  complete  and  satis- 


288  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

factory  than  when  under  his  own  immediate  superintendence 
and  control.  The  evils  of  selfishness  do  not  lie  in  a  man's 
appropriating  to  himself  that  to  which  he  has  a  just  claim,  and 
which  he  may  enjoy  without  injury  to  his  neighbor,  but  in  the 
appropriation  of  that  to  which  he  has  no  fair  title,  and  which  he 
cannot  so  appropriate  without  injury  to  his  neighbor,  and  with- 
out an  invasion  of  the  just  rights  of  other  men.  That  meanness 
of  selfishness,  which  some  men  exhibit,  and  which  seeks  the 
exclusive  enjoyment  of  whatever  it  can  accumulate,  irrespective 
of  the  comfort,  and  at  the  expense  of  the  toil,  of  others,  —  that  dog- 
in-the-manger  selfishness,  which  accumulates  without  imparting, 
and  seems  to  experience  its  highest  zest  in  contrasting  its  own 
fulness  with  the  destitution  and  misery  of  others,  —  is  as  odious  as 
it  is  criminal.  On  the  other  hand,  that  rational  regard  to  one's 
own  interest  which  prompts  a  man  continually  to  take  the  best 
possible  care  of  his  body  and  mind ;  to  secure  his  health,  that  his 
physical  activity  and  vigor  may  be  increased,  and  to  cultivate 
and  improve  his  mind,  that  it  may  resemble,  in  its  fruitfulness,  a 
well-tilled  and  enriched  field ;  to  increase  likewise  his  estate,  and 
embellish  and  adorn  it ;  and  to  accumulate  wealth  that  he  may 
multiply  the  sources  of  good  to  others,  stimulate  others  to  exer- 
tion, and  lead  to  those  generous  improvements  which  wealth  is 
capable  of  producing,  and  to  which  it  may  be  beneficially 
applied,  —  this  is  a  sentiment,  Avhich,  so  far  from  being  to  be  con- 
demned, is  to  be  commended  and  cherished  as  the  great  instru- 
ment and  spring,  as  much  of  social  and  public,  as  of  personal 
and  individual  good. 

Improvement  of  every  kind  lies  in  action.  The  happiness 
which  never  satiates  or  wearies  is  to  be  found  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  progress.     Who  that  has  experienced  a  dead  calm  at  sea, 

—  not  a  breath  of  wind  to  ruffle  the  Avaves,  the  vessel  tossing  from 
one  side  to  the  other  like  a  cork  upon  the  water,  the  rigging 
shaking,  the  sails  flapping,  the  crew  idle  and  listless,  no  progress 
reported,  and  the  whole  company  wearied,  impatient,  despond- 
ing, ill-humored,  —  and  compares  this  with  a  brisk  gale  blowing, 

—  every  rope  straightened,  every  sail  spread  and  filled,  the  planks 
of  the  ship  creaking  as  it  were  with  intense  exertion,  the  masts 
bending  almost  to  breaking  under  their  burden,  the  crew  awake, 
the  passengers  all  animated  with  hope  and  delighted  with  the 
certainty  of  progress,  and  the  noble  ship,  with  her  priceless  cargo 


1 


GEINERAI.    CONSIDERATIONS.  289 

of  human  life  and  fortune,  moving  like  a  thing  of  life  over  the 
billows,  and,  as  she  ploughs  her  proud  path  through,  as  it  were,  a 
flood  of  liquid  silver,  throwing  the  glittering  and  brilliant  tresses 
of  jewels  from  her  neck,  —  who  has  had  this  experience,  and  will 
not  feel  how  little  to  be  desired,  either  for  the  body  or  the  mind, 
for  health  or  enjoyment,  for  the  animal  or  the  moral  man,  is  a 
state  of  inanity  and  sluggish  repose  ? 

The  poets  —  those  ethereal  beings,  who  deal  in  fiction,  and 
whose  imagination  becomes  a  sort  of  ignis  fatuus,  a  "  Will-of-the- 
wisp,"  leading  them  they  know  not  where  —  love  to  descant  upon 
the  Golden  Ages  or  the  Paradisiacal  state,  when  men,  without 
care  for  food  or  clothing,  had  nothing  to  do,  but,  under  a  calm 
sky  and  a  soft  air,  to  lie  down  on  banks  of  fragrant  flowers,  by 
the  side  of  gurgling  streams,  under  the  shade  of  spreading  aro- 
matic trees,  and  let  the  richest  fruits  fall  into  their  laps,  and 
listen  to  the  -^olian  strains  of  the  winds  whispering  among  the 
branches,  and  the  melodious  songs  of  birds  of  the  gayest  plu- 
mage fluttering  around  them,  and  abandon  themselves  to  the 
charms  of  a  purely  animal  and  sensual  existence.  But  what 
reflecting  man  would  desire  such  a  life  as  this  for  himself,  and 
would  not  feel  an  intolerable  restlessness,  and  especially  a  morti- 
fying consciousness  that  it  falls,  one  may  almost  say,  infinitely 
below  the  capacities  of  his  nature  and  the  purposes  of  his  being  ? 

I  cannot  look  out  of  my  window,  where  I  am  now  writing,  in 
Trafalgar  Square  at  Charing  Cross,  without  seeing  a  world  of  in- 
describable life,  and  bustle,  and  activity.  The  night  in  London 
is  seldom  longer  than  from  half  past  two  o'clock  until  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  the  flood-gates  begin  gently  to  open,  and 
gradually  the  rushing  torrent  of  life  pours  through  in  a  turbid 
and  boisterous  flood.  After  the  waters  begin  to  move  with  force, 
there  is  perhaps  not  a  minute  in  the  day  when  more  than  a  thou- 
sand, or  rather  thousands,  of  people  cannot  be  counted  from  my 
window.  Here  are  carriages  without  number,  from  the  splendid 
chariot  with  its  noble  horses,  its  gorgeous  equipage,  its  liveried 
servants,  and  its  precious  cargo  of  figured  porcelain,  down  to  the 
humble  gig,  the  dray-horse,  the  wheelbarrow,  and  the  donkey-cart 
with  its  precious  load  of  garbage  or  of  dog's-meat.  Here  are 
shops  without  number,  replete  with  all  the  most  exquisite  produc- 
tions of  science,  genius,  art,  and  mechanical  contrivance,  and  full 
of  buyers  and  sellers.  Here  are  crowds  of  men,  women,  and  chil- 
25 


290  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

dren,  passing  and  repassing,  sauntering,  walking,  running,  and 
jostling  each  other,  waiting  upon  and  being  waited  upon,  enter- 
taining and  being  entertained,  carrying  and  being  carried,  labor- 
ing and  enjoying.  Here  are  caravansaries  for  the  travellers, 
banks  for  merchants,  monuments  to  heroes  and  princes,  schools 
of  science,  galleries  of  art,  and  temples  to  God,  adorned  with 
the  finest  embellishments  of  architectural  skill,  and  lifting  their 
beautiful  spires  to  the  skies,  as  if,  from  the  glittering  vane 
upon  the  top,  they  would  emulate  the  brilliancy  of  a  fixed  star, 
and  as  if,  like  the  star  which  stood  over  the  sacred  spot  of  a 
divine  nativity,  they  would  present  Heaven's  brilliant  emblem  of 
mercy  to  encourage  man's  faith  and  piety.  Here,  too,  are  foun- 
tains of  water  throwing  up  their  liquid  treasures  over  their  heads, 
and  coming  down  in  constant  showers  of  brilliants.  Here  are 
men,  and  the  busy  and  exciting  concerns  of  men,  under  all  the 
varying  aspects  of  human  life  and  activity.  Here  are  the  mag- 
nificent triumphs  of  human  art  and  skill ;  here  are  the  fruits  of 
centuries  of  toil  and  labor  ;  and  here  is  one  continued  intensity 
of  action,  as  if  it  were  the  very  heart  of  the  great  world  beating 
with  violent  emotion.  But  none  of  this,  properly  speaking,  is 
mechanical ;  it  is  all  intellectual ;  it  is  all  under  the  dominion  of 
mind  to  excite,  to  urge,  to  direct,  to  control  it.  There  is  a  far 
mightier  power  at  work  within  than  appears  without.  If  you 
could  take  off  the  roof  of  some  of  these  moving  tabernacles ;  if 
you  could  see  what  is  there  lying  beneath,  the  burning  thoughts, 
the  anxious  desires,  the  resolute  purposes,  the  beating  affections, 
and  the  fiery  passions,  which  are  there  at  work,  and  as  it  were 
mingling  in  one  common  flame,  you  would  indeed  see  objects 
more  curious  and  wonderful,  an  exhibition  far  more  extraordinary, 
than  any  thing  ever  before  presented  to  your  senses,  or  even  to 
your  imagination.  But  what  is  the  secret  spring,  the  great 
power-wheel  which  sets  all  these  things  in  motion,  which  excites 
and  quickens  all  this  activity  ?  It  is  acquisition,  the  desire  to 
acquire  subsistence,  pleasure,  profit,  wealth,  or  power. 

Would  it  be  better  that  all  this  should  cease,  and  society 
become  a  mere  stagnant  pool  ?  Would  it  be  better  that  all  the 
necessity  of  labor  should  be  taken  away,  and  men  should  have 
no  other  destiny  than  to  repose  in  quiet,  with  all  their  wants 
supplied,  and  all  their  senses  gratified ;  and  that  down  couches 
should  be  spread  round  these  gushing  fountains,  and  instead  of 


GENERAL    CONSIDERATIONS.  291 

water  they  should  send  forth  the  delicious  juices  of  the  grape,  — 
though  perhaps,  to  suit  the  English  taste,  it  should  be  ale  or 
beer,  or  what  is  vulgarly  called  "  half  and  half,"  for  that  is  the 
Englishman's  nectar,  — and  that  men  should  have  only  to  drink^t 
in  at  pleasure,  or,  in  common  parlance,  to  enjoy  themselves  ?  I 
think  not.  I  believe  Heaven  could  send  no  greater  curse  than 
to  exempt  mankind  from  all  necessity  of  labor. 

If  we  look  at  the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  tropical  coun- 
tries, where  the  richest  fruits  of  the  earth  grow  spontaneously, 
where  clothing  and  shelter  are  scarcely  required,  and  where  men 
are  exempted  from  the  necessity  of  labor,  we  shall  find  them 
sunk  in  sensuality,  abandoned  to  animal  indulgences,  and  in 
intellectual  and  moral  condition  at  the  lowest  scale.  If  we  com- 
pare them  with  the  inhabitants  of  temperate  regions,  the  dis- 
parity will  be  seen  to  be  great,  but  vastly  in  favor  of  the  latter. 
The  intellect  is  sharpened,  as  well  as  the  muscular  vigor  in- 
creased, in  proportion  to  the  difficulties  with  which  it  has  to 
struggle,  and  the  labor  by  which  it  is  taxed,  provided  that  la- 
bor is  not  excessive  and  unnatural.  Though  there  may  be  a 
severity  of  toil  wholly  discouraging,  and  difficulties  which  are 
perfectly  hopeless  and  insurmountable,  —  which  cases  we  must  of 
course  except,  —  yet,  in  point  of  actual  enjoyment,  there  cannot  be 
a  doubt  on  which  side  the  advantage  lies ;  and  that  the  neces- 
sity of  exertion,  and  every  wholesome  stimulus  to  useful  and 
honest  labor,  is  a  blessing  from  Heaven. 

The  condition  of  the  Irish  peasantry  likewise  strongly  illus- 
trates and  confirms  these  truths.  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
destitution  and  wretchedness  in  which  millions  of  these  people 
live.  I  have  been  into  many  of  their  cabins,  and  have  seen 
the  habitations  of  thousands  and  thousands  of  these  miserable 
people  ;  and,  in  regard  to  external  accommodations,  I  can  scarcely 
think  that  there  is  upon  earth  a  lower  condition  of  human 
existence.  Certainly  the  wigwam  of  an  American  savage  may 
often  be  regarded  with  envy  for  its  comforts,  compared  with 
many  an  Irish  cabin.  I  have  been  into  those  which  were  mere 
holes  dug  into  the  side  of  a  peat  bog,  and  have  put  my  hand 
upon  the  wet  and  velvety  walls,  that  I  might  be  certain  my 
senses  did  not  deceive  me.  In  these  caves,  covered  with  sticks, 
and  straw,  and  sods  ;  without  chimney,  window,  or  floor ;  with  a 
fire  of  turf  slowly  burning  upon  the  ground  and  filling  the  place 


292  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

with  smoke  ;  without  bed,  table,  chair,  or  plate,  or  knife,  or  fork  ; 
with,  indeed,  no  article  of  furniture  save  a  kettle  in  which  to  boil 
their  potatoes,  and  a  basket  in  which  to  take  them  up ;  with  no 
other  seat  but  a  bit  of  dried  turf  or  peat,  and  no  bed  to  lie  down 
upon  but  a  flock  of  straw,  which  was  frequently  shared  in 
common  by  the  children  and  the  pig,  —  I  have  found  a  crowded 
family,  with  rags  for  clothing  that  scarcely  hid  their  nakedness, 
living  from  one  year's  end  to  the  other  upon  potatoes  and  water, 
and  never  more  than  once  a  year  tasting  either  bread  or  meat. 

This  is  not  the  place  for  me  to  enter  into  the  political  con- 
siderations connected  with  this  condition  of  things  in  a  country 
which,  in  respect  to  its  climate  and  soil,  and  resources  for  useful 
industry,  and  means  not  only  of  comfortable  subsistence  to  a 
population  quadruple  of  that  which  exists  there,  but  in  means  of 
abundance  and  wealth,  is  eminently  favored  of  Heaven.  But  I 
refer  to  the  example  of  Ireland  to  show  that  where  persons  can 
remain  satisfied  under  privation  and  extreme  penury ;  where 
they  are  content  to  live  upon  the  meanest  fare,  and  to  occupy 
habitations  scai'cely  fit  for  the  shelter  of  the  lowest  of  the  brute 
creation ;  where,  with  only  a  mud-cabin  and  a  potato  patch, 
without  even  money  enough  to  pay  the  wedding-fee,  (for  this  is 
made  out  by  the  contributions  of  friends  on  the  occasion,)  they 
are  willing  to  take  upon  themselves  the  responsibilities  of 
marriage,  and  become  the  founders  of  families  to  be  born  only  to 
inherit  a  similar  destitution  and  wretchedness,  it  is  difficult 
to  find  motives  to  rouse  them  to  exertion  and  industry.  Until 
a  revolution  can  be  eff'ected  in  their  feelings,  and  a  set  of  wants 
created  within  them,  any  strong  hopes  of  the  improvement  of 
their  condition  seem  idle. 

The  wants  of  men,  then,  are  the  great  incentives  to  exertion  ; 
and  the  stimidus  of  profit,  the  desire  of  gain  and  of  accumulation, 
is  that  which  induces  enterprise  and  eff"ort,  which  excites  inquiry 
and  leads  to  knowledge,  which  prompts  to  labor,  and  thus  urges 
men  on  to  new  acquisitions  and  continual  progress.  We  may 
appeal  to  higher  motives  than  self-interest,  where  there  are 
minds  capable  of  appreciating  a  higher  class  of  motives  ;  but  it 
is  absurd  to  consider  inferior  motives  as  wrong,  where  better 
cannot  be  had ;  and  self-interest  .and  the  desire  of  gain  are  not 
only  innocent,  but  commendable,  where  we  do  not  seek  gain  or 
pursue  our  own  interests  to  the  injury  and  loss  of  others. 


GENERAL    CONSIDERATIONS.  293 

I  fear  I  may  be  thought  to  have  gone  out  of  my  way  by  such 
a  preface  as  this ;  yet  I  hope  I  may  have  the  indulgence  of  my 
readers  for  an  honest  endeavor  to  enliven  a  subject  of  dry  details 
Avith  matter  which,  though  it  may  seem  distant  from,  is  certainly 
not  irrelevant  to  my  purpose.  I  have  not  always  found  it  a 
hinderance,  though  it  may  appear  like  an  interruption,  in  making 
a  tour  of  business,  sometimes  to  dismount,  and,  throwing  the 
reins  over  the  neck  of  my  horse,  that  he  too  might  regale  himself 
by  the  roadside,  lie  down  on  a  green  bank,  under  a  quiet  shade, 
by  some  sparkling  stream,  and  abandon  myself  for  a  while  to  the 
charming  thoughts  which  then  come  fluttering  round  the  mind, 
like  fireflies  upon  a  meadow  in  a  quiet  evening  of  summer ;  or 
at  other  times  to  leap  the  fence,  and  rush  into  the  fields  or  the 
neighboring  forest,  and  return  with  a  handful  of  golden  grain,  or 
a  bouquet  of  wild  flowers  gathered  fresh  from  the  bosom  of 
nature,  and  showing  the  exuberant  bounty  of  Heaven,  or  the 
triumphs  of  artificial  culture.  I  could  then  mount  my  horse, 
refreshed  by  the  indulgence,  and  pursue  my  journey  with  new 
speed,  with  senses  more  alive  to  the  beauties  of  the  country 
through  which  I  was  passing,  and  with  a  more  grateful  sense  of 
the  goodness  of  the  great  Author  of  nature,  who,  by  this  varied 
mixture,  by  alternations  of  light  and  shade,  of  labor  and  rest,  of 
toil  and  indulgence,  and  by  an  endless  succession  and  diversity 
of  objects,  makes  life,  which  would  be  otherwise  deplorably 
monotonous  and  tedious,  not  merely  agreeable,  but  delightful. 

1  should  be  happy,  in  my  humble  way,  in  any  degree  to  ac- 
complish so  desirable  a  purpose  in  respect  to  my  kind  readei-s, 
and  render  the  journey  which  we  have  undertaken  to  travel 
together  sis  pleasant  as  I  could  wish  to  make  it  useful  and 
instructive. 

Some  men,  very  much  addicted  to  great  refinements  in 
casuistry,  and  especially  in  respect  to  the  motives  of  human 
actions,  would  condemn  every  motive,  but  such  as  are  purely 
disinterested,  as  criminal.  I  agree  with  them  that  the  highest 
of  human  actions  must  have  its  origin  in  the  highest  and 
purest  of  all  motives ;  but  I  cannot  deny  the  innocence,  and, 
more  than  that,  the  positive  virtue  and  worth  of  many  actions 
and  pursuits,  that  are  prompted  by  motives  which  some  persons 
would  designate  as  inferior,  but  which,  nevertheless,  have  their 
origin  in  our  own  nature  and  constitution.  Self-interest,  profit, 
25* 


294  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

accumulation,  are  all  of  them  reasonable  and  commendable 
objects,  when  they  do  not  lead  us  to  invade  or  infringe  upon  the 
rights  of  others,  and  when  our  accumulations  ai*e  used  foi 
useful  ends. 

I  am  anxious  to  vindicate  the  profession  of  agriculture  from 
every  aspersion  which  may  be  cast  upon  it,  and  to  contribute 
my  mite  to  place  it  in  that  r£mk,  in  the  scale  of  human  pursuits, 
which  it  may  justly  claim  for  itself.  I  may  say,  with  Bacon, 
''that  it  has  the  divine  sanction,"  for  in  the  beginning  God 
placed  man  upon  the  earth  to  cultivate  and  make  it  fruitful.  I 
may  claim  for  it,  further,  that  it  is  an  innocent  pursuit ;  that  it 
can  do  no  injury  to  any  one ;  and  that  it  invades  no  man's  just 
rights,  and  prejudices  no  man's  safety,  health,  peace,  or  reason- 
able enjoyment.  I  will  add  to  this,  that  it  is  a  beneficent 
employment.  Whoever  cultivates  the  earth,  and  covers  it  with 
rich  and  golden  crops,  renders  it  more  beautiful ;  whoever  causes 
the  earth  to  yield  its  fruits,  increases  the  means  of  human  com- 
fort and  subsistence  ;  and  in  proportion  as  this  cultivation  is 
improved  and  skilful,  and  by  such  improvement,  and  such  skill, 
the  products  of  the  earth  are  many  times  increased,  so  the  means 
of  human  subsistence  and  comfort,  and  of  subsistence  and  com- 
fort to  a  very  large  portion  of  the  brute  creation,  are  correspond- 
ingly extended. 

I  will  make  no  invidious  comparisons  between  agriculture  and 
other  professions  and  pursuits  of  life  ;  but  certainly  none  is  more 
innocent,  more  honest,  more  useful,  or  more  rational.  That 
happens,  in  respect  to  agriculture,  which  does  not  equally  appear 
in  many  professions,  that  its  improvements  cannot  be  monopo- 
lized ;  they  are  of  necessity  exposed.  Emulation  or  compe- 
tition, so  often  productive  of  the  worst  results  in  many  pursuits 
of  life,  in  the  improvement  of  agriculture  can  produce  nothing 
but  good. 


XLVII.  —  AGRICULTURE   AS   A   COMMERCIAL  PURSUIT. 

Men,  then,  may  lawfully  pursue  agriculture  under  the  stimulus 
of  profit.  In  many  cases,  the  gains  of  one  man  are  made  at  the 
expense  or  loss  of  another.     The  celebrated  Madame   Roland 


AGRICULTURE    AS    A    COMMERCIAL    PURSUIT.  295 

used  to  say  '•'  she  was  always  sorry  to  hear  that  a  man  had  made 
a  good  bargain,  because  she  knew,  in  that  case,  that  some  person 
must  have  made  a  poor  one."  It  is  not  so  in  agricuhure.  The 
more  a  man  increases  his  wealth  by  increasing  the  products  of 
the  earth  by  a  skilful  cultivation,  so  much  the  more  is  the  whole 
community  benefited,  excepting  only  where  human  laws  inter- 
pose to  intercept  the  widest  possible  dijOfusion  of  the  bounties  of 
Heaven. 

Agriculture,  in  order  to  excellence,  requires  as  much  the 
stimulus  of  profit  as  any  other  pursuit  in  life.  In  England  and 
Scotland,  it  has  had  that  stimulus.  It  has  had  governmental 
protection  and  indulgence,  the  propriety  and  justice  of  which  are 
questionable  with  many  men  of  distinguished  wisdom,  observa- 
tion, and  patriotism,  and  the  expediency  of  which  is  capricious, 
being  dependent  upon  circumstances  ever  liable  to  fluctuation 
and  change.  The  protection  which  it  has  received  has  been  in 
laws  prohibiting,  under  heavy  duties,  the  importation  of  agricul- 
tural produce  from  foreign  countries,  and  aflfording  relief  from 
various  forms  of  specific  taxation,  to  which  other  professions  or 
conditions  are  subjected.  The  horses,  dogs,  servants,  and 
carriages,  of  all  other  classes  of  the  community  here  are  taxed ; 
but  those  of  the  farmer  are  exempted  from  taxation.  In  the  tax 
upon  income,  the  farmer's  income  is  fairly  assumed  from  the  rent 
which  he  pays ;  but  in  levying  the  assessment,  only  half  his  rent 
is  reckoned,  so  that  a  farmer  paying  in  fact  £400  rent,  would 
be  considered,  for  the  purpose  of  taxation,  as  paying  only  £2^00. 
In  some  respects,  it  must  be  confessed  that  what  is  called  ''  pro- 
tection '*  is  of  a  suicidal  character.  A  duty  is  laid,  for  example, 
upon  imported  clover-seed,  whereas  the  amount  produced  in  the 
country,  or  likely  to  be  produced  under  all  the  encouragement 
which  its  cultivation  receives,  bears  a  very  small  proportion  to 
the  amount  used  by  the  farmers,  and  used  in  fact  by  no  other 
persons ;  so  that  the  duty  paid  upon  this  article  is  a  heavy  tax 
upon  the  many  farmers,  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  few. 
Great  complaint  is  likewise  made,  by  the  farmers,  of  the  intro- 
duction of  fat  cattle  from  abroad,  which  come  into  injurious  com- 
petition with  their  own  stock,  and  of  the  admission  of  foreign 
salted  provisions.  At  the  same  time,  the  very  provision  upon 
which  these  cattle  might,  if  imported  lean,  be  fatted  at  home,  is 
prohibited.      The  Indian  corn  from  the  United  States  can  be 


296  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

admitted  only  by  the  payment  of  a  duty  which  is  almost  pro- 
hibitory. It  cannot  be  grown  in  England,  though,  under  some 
extraordinary  circumstances  in  accidental  localities,  it  has  occa- 
sionally ripened.  If,  instead  of  importing  fat  cattle  from  the 
Continent,  to  supply  their  markets,  they  would  import  lean  cattle, 
and  at  the  same  time  import  Indian  corn  under  a  low  or  nominal 
duty,  to  fatten  them  with,  (and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a 
substance  which,  in  proportion  to  its  cost,  is  more  nutritious.)  it  is 
obvious  that,  besides  the  profit  upon  the  labor  of  fattening  these 
cattle,  they  would  have  the  great  advantages  of  their  manure  — 
certainly  a  most  serious  consideration.* 

Agriculture  in  England  appears  altogether  as  a  commercial 
pursuit.  Where  heavy  amounts  of  rent  are  to  be  periodically 
and  punctually  paid,  men  are  compelled  to  look  carefully  at 
their  expenditures,  purchases,  and  contracts,  and  their  pecuniary 
results.  It  is  by  no  means  so  with  us  in  the  United  States, 
where  most  farmers  are  their  own  landlords  and  the  owners  of 
the  estates  on  which  they  live,  and  where,  if  their  sales  from 
their  farms  are  sufficient  to  meet  the  expenses  of  labor,  the  light 
taxes  of  the  government,  and  those  supplies  for  their  families 
which  the  farm  itself  does  not  yield,  they  feel  themselves  at 
least  secure,  if  they  are  not  satisfied.  I  design  presently  to  give 
some  example  of  the  manner  in  which  farm  accounts  are  kept 
here  by  the  most  careful  farmers,  and  which  show  all  the  exact- 
ness of  mercantile  transactions.  Indeed,  it  must  be  so,  or  they 
would  become  involved  in  inextricable  confusion,  which  would 
surely  terminate  in  bankruptcy  and  ruin.  I  know  farmers  here 
who  pay  their  two  hundred,  four  hundred,  six  hundred,  and  one 
thousand  pounds'  rent ;  I  have  been  credibly  informed  of  a 
farmer  in  Scotland,  or  on  the  borders  of  Scotland  and  England, 

*  The  alteration  of  the  tariff,  allowing  the  admission  of  fat  cattle,  and  foreign 
cheese,  &c.,  under  a  reduced  duty,  does  not  appear,  at  present,  to  have  produced 
so  great  results  as  was  expected,  whatever  may  be  the  case  hereafter. 

The  report  made  to  Parliament  this  present  session,  (1845,)  returns,  as  imported 
into  the  country  from  abroad  the  last  year,  of  cattle,  2,241,  (which,  if  we  suppose 
them  to  average  800  pounds  per  head,  would  give  only  about  three  fourths  of  a 
pound  of  meat  to  each  individual ;)  of  sheep,  1,063,  (which,  at  80  pounds  per 
head,  —  a  large  average,  —  would  give  half  an  ounce  of  mutton  to  each  individual ;) 
of  cheese,  11,000  tons,  (which  would  give  about  one  pound  per  individual.) 
At  the  same  time,  the  minister  in  Parliament  states  that,  during  tJie  last  year,  the 
population  of  the  kingdom  has  increased  by  380,000 ! ! 


MARKETS.   CATTLE  MARKETS.  2*^7 

whose  annual  rent,  at  one  time,  Avas  seven  thousand  pounds,  or 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars ;  and  it  is  quite  obvious  how  disas- 
trous must  be  the  consequences,  if  such  properties  are  managed 
otherwise  than  with  the  most  scrupulous  commercial  exactness. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  our  habits  in  this  respect  are  alto- 
gether diflferent  from  what  they  should  be ;  that  perhaps  a 
majority  of  our  farmers  keep  no  accounts  whatever,  and  many 
who  keep  accounts  exhibit  only  imperfect  and  slovenly  examples. 
It  is  said,  —  and  it  is  certainly  much  to  his  honor,  —  that  a  distin- 
guished individual  here,  possessing  immense  estates,  but  who 
had  become  somewhat  perplexed,  not  to  say  embarrassed,  in  his 
pecuniary  afiairs,  and  whose  education  had  not  been,  in  this 
matter,  of  a  character  to  enable  him  to  manage  his  affairs  to 
advantage,  employed  an  accurate  accountant  in  his  house  for 
some  time,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  learning  from  him  the  science 
of  book-keeping  by  double  entry.  With  a  natural  love  of  order, 
and  a  firm  resolution,  having  acquired  this  knowledge,  he  was 
soon  enabled  to  bring  order  out  of  confusion,  and  rescue  himself 
from  embarrassment,  and  its  attendant  and  inevitable  mortifica- 
tions.    Such  an  example  as  this  is  certainly  worth  recording. 

Many  farmers,  more  systematic  than  others,  keep  not  only  an 
account  of  cost  and  expenditure,  and  the  amount  of  sales  and 
profits,  in  the  form  of  a  cash  account,  but  likewise  a  regular 
account  with  every  field  and  every  crop,  and  I  had  almost  said 
with  every  animal,  taking,  as  every  careful  trader  or  merchant 
will  do,  a  yearly  account  of  stock  at  a  fair  valuation.  Every 
thing  is  accounted  for  ;  not  so  much  as  a  quart  of  milk  is  used 
in  the  family,  but  it  is  charged  at  the  current  price.  I  should  be 
doing  great  injustice  not  to  say  that  I  know  many  examples  of 
such  carefulness  in  my  own  country.  Besides  the  great  satisfac- 
tion springing  from  this  exactness,  the  sense  of  security  and  in- 
tegrity, which  it  brings  with  it,  is  invaluable. 


XLVIII.^  MARKETS.  CATTLE  MARKETS. 

The  English  farmers  have  great  advantages  in  their  markets 
and  exchanges ;  and  in_this  matter,  to  a  certain  extent,  we  ought 


298  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

to  follow  them.  I  do  not  say  these  markets  are  an  unmixed 
good  J-  but  the  benefits  arising  from  them,  I  am  convinced, 
greatly  preponderate  over  the  evils  ;  and,  taking  advantage  of  the 
long  experience  of  others,  some  of  these  evils  we  may  either 
remedy  or  avoid.  It  would  prove  highly  beneficial  to  our 
farmers  if  they  could  have  certain  established  markets  for  the 
sale  of  their  produce  when  it  is  ready  for  sale  ;  if  prices  could  be 
fairly  adjusted  and  equalized;  and  especially  if  the  markets 
could  be  for  cash  ;  and  that  credit,  in  all  cases  excepting  for 
very  short  periods,  could  be  abolished.  It  would  be  equally 
useful  to  them  to  know  where  they  could  buy  as  well  as  where 
they  could  sell ;  for  they  often  want  lean  or  store  stock  for  fatten- 
ing, a  change  of  seed  for  sowing,  horses  for  farm  service,  young 
stock  for  grazing,  and  cows  for  dairy  use. 

With  the  exception  of  three  or  four  of  our  large  towns,  —  as 
Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia,  —  we  have  no  established 
cattle  market  in  the  country ;  and  markets  such  as  Brighton  near 
Boston,  and  the  Bull's  Head  near  New  York,  are  almost  exclu- 
sively for  the  sale  of  fat  cattle,  sheep,  and  swine.  Our  farmers 
sell,  as  they  can,  to  agents  or  purchasers  travelling  through  the 
country,  and  buy  as  they  can,  and  where,  by  chance,  after  taking, 
in  many  cases,  long  and  expensive  journeys,  they  may  find  the 
stock  which  they  need.  In  frequent  cases,  stock,  both  cattle 
and  swine,  are  driven  through  the  country  and  sold  to  those  who 
wish  to  purchase,  as  accident  may  direct.  A  wool  fair  or 
market,  is  not,  within  my  knowledge,  held  in  the  country ;  nor 
a  corn  or  grain  market.*  In  the  purchase  of  wool,  agents  scour 
the  country,  and  in  general  the  farmers  are  quite  at  their  mercy. 
In  respect  to  grain,  the  farmer  carries  his  wheat,  or  other  grain, 
to  the  miller  or  the  trader,  and  must  make  the  best  bargain  that 
he  can.  In  such  case,  in  the  first  place,  there  is  no  competition ; 
and  no  possibility  of  calculating  the  quantities  on  hand  for  sale  ; 
and  no  mode  of  fixing  any  general  or  equal  price  ;  and,  indeed,  no 


*  Howard  Street,  in  Baltimore,  affords  the  only  place  in  the  United  States 
resembling  an  exclusive  market  for  the  sale  of  grain  or  flour;  and  this  is  only 
attended  by  individual  purchasers,  and  is  not  a  meeting  of  farmers,  grain-dealers, 
and  millers,  coming  together  on  particular  days  in  the  week,  and  at  a  particular 
hour  in  the  day,  to  exhibit  samples,  to  collect  and  impart  information  respecting 
the  grain  prospects  of  the  year,  to  discuss  prices,  and  to  afford  to  all  parties  the 
advantages  of  comparison  and  competition. 


FALKIRK    TRYST.  299 

certainty  to  the  farmer  of  finding  any  market  at  all.  These 
evils  might  be  remedied,  and  a  change  effected,  to  the  great 
advantage  of  buyers  and  sellers,  by  the  adoption  of  the  system 
of  weekly  or  periodical  markets,  which  prevails  throughout 
England  and  Scotland.  Here  are  wool  fairs,  for  the  sale  of 
wool,  of  which  samples  are  exhibited;  and  corn  and  grain 
markets,  where  wheat,  barley,  oats,  rye,  beans,  and  peas,  sam- 
ples of  which  are  exhibited,  are  sold ;  and  markets  for  the  sale 
of  fat  cattle,  and  markets  for  the  sale  of  lean  cattle,  and  markets 
for  the  sale  of  horses,  and  markets  for  the  sale  of  sheep  and 
lambs,  and  markets  for  the  sale  of  cheese  and  butter;  these 
markets  sometimes  uniting  several  objects,  or  otherwise  limited 
to  some  single  object. 

I  have  attended  several  of  these  markets,  and  some  general 
account  of  them  may  have  an  interest  with  my  readers. 


XLIX.  — FALKIRK   TRYST. 

The  largest  cattle  market  in  the  kingdom,  uniting  sheep  and 
cattle,  takes  place  three  times  a  year,  —  on  the  second  Tuesday  in 
August,  September,  and  October,  — at  Falkirk  in  Scotland,  about 
equidistant  from  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow.  This  is  called  the 
Falkirk  Tryst,  and  is  held  on  an  extensive  plain  about  three  or 
four  miles  from  the  town.  Here  are  congregated  a  vast  number 
of  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  and  of  buyers  and  sellers.  It  was 
estimated,  when  I  was  there,  that  the  number  of  cattle  then  on 
the  ground  exceeded  fifty  thousand  head,  and  of  sheep  seventy 
thousand  ;  and  the  banker  informed  me  that  the  money  em- 
ployed in  the  negotiation  would  exceed  £300,000,  or  one 
million  and  a  half  of  dollars.  The  cattle  and  sheep  exhibited 
at  this  tryst  are  almost  altogether  of  the  Scotch  breeds,  and 
many  come  from  the  remote  Highlands.  They  are  purchased 
to  be  distributed,  in  the  neighborhood  and  the  southern  provinces, 
for  wintering,  or  for  fatting  for  the  winter  and  spring  markets. 
Besides  cattle  and  sheep,  a  large  number  of  horses  are  brought 
for  sale  at  the  same  time  ;  as  many  as  three  thousand  horses  are 


300  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

sometimes  offered  for  sale,  and  the  field  presents  the  appearance 
of  a  grand  military  display  ;  indeed,  I  have  seldom  seen  a  sight 
more  imposing.  For  a  week  or  more  before  the  tryst,  the 
roads  leading  to  Falkirk  will  be  found  crowded  with  successive 
droves  of  cattle  and  sheep,  proceeding  to  this  central  point ;  and 
it  is  extremely  curious,  on  the  field,  to  see  with  what  skill  and 
care  the  different  parties  and  herds  are  kept  together  by  them- 
selves. In  this  matter,  the  shepherds  are  greatly  assisted  by 
their  dogs,  who  appear  endowed  with  a  sagacity  almost  human, 
and  almost  to  know  every  individual  belonging  to  their  charge. 
They  are  sure,  with  an  inflexible  pertinacity,  to  follow  and  bring 
back  a  deserter  lo  the  flock.  Purchasers  come  in  great  numbers 
from  various  parts  of  the  kingdom.  Some  cattle  ar^  bought  to 
be  re-sold  at  other  and  smaller  markets.  The  larger  number 
are  bought  in  order  to  be  fed  or  fatted  on  the  arable  farms  at  the 
south.  Cattle  which  have  thus  been  driven  from  the  extreme 
north  are  afterwards  to  be  found  even  in  Cornwall,  at  the 
Land's  End. 

The  sales  in  these  cases  are,  of  course,  for  cash.  Bankers  are 
always  present,  or  near  at  hand,  to  facilitate  the  transactions. 
Here,  at  a  distance  little  less  than  four  hundred  miles  from  Lon- 
don, bankers  go  down  from  London,  carrying  their  funds  with 
them,  and  occupying,  during  the  time  of  the  market,  (which  con- 
tinues at  least  four  days, )  a  temporary  stand  or  office  in  the  field. 


L.— THE   BALLINASLOE   FAIR. 

At  Ballinasloe,  in  Ireland,  a  similar  fair  is  held ;  though  here 
the  fair  is  usually  confined  to  the  sale  of  sheep,  and  they  some- 
times number  as  many  as  eighty  thousand  sheep.  A  very  large 
fair  is  held  in  the  southern  portions  of  Scotland,  for  the  sale  of 
lambs,  where  the  collection  is  immense. 


THE    GALWAY    FAIR.  301 


LI.  — THE  GALWAY   FAIR. 


A  very  large  fair  is  held  at  Galway,  Ireland,  in  the  county  of 
Gal  way,  called  the  Fair  of  Rose  Mount,  at  which  I  was  present. 
This  was  chiefly  for  the  sale  of  ponies,  or  horses  of  a  small  breed, 
with  some  few  cattle.  On  this  occasion,  the  collection  of  people 
was  surprisingly  great ;  and  I  could  then  well  understand  what 
was  intended  by  the  public  meetings  in  Ireland,  called  ''monster 
meetings,"  in  respect  to  which,  until  I  saw  this  collection  of 
people,  I  had  always  supposed  the  account  of  the  numbers 
assembled  had  been  much  exaggerated.  There  were  here,  on 
this  occasion,  some  cattle  and  sheep ;  but  there  were,  also,  four 
thousand  ponies,  the  catching  of  which,  for  examination  or  sale, 
as  they  had,  in  general,  neither  bridle  nor  halter,  was  sufficiently 
amusing,  and  I  was  about  to  add,  sufficiently  Irish.  The  fair 
was  held  on  the  sea-shore,  where  the  receding  tide  left  a  large 
bed  of  mud.  The  ponies,  when  required  to  be  caught,  were 
surrounded  and  driven  into  this  mud ;  and  here,  in  a  very  ignoble 
way,  they  were  secured,  though  it  was  not  always  without  some 
difficulty  they  were  extracted  after  being  caught. 

1.  Temperance  in  Ireland.  —  There  were  two  circum- 
stances connected  with  this  fair  at  Rose  Mount,  a  reference  to 
which,  though  not  having  an  immediate  connection  with  the 
principal  object  of  my  Reports,  yet  having  a  direct  bearing  upon 
rural  manners  and  customs,  may  not  be  considered  wholly  out  of 
place.  Here,  as  well  as  at  the  fair  at  Donnybrook,  where  im- 
mense numbers  of  people  were  congregated,  I  could  observe  most 
distinctly  the  beneficent  effects  of  that  powerful  reformatory 
movement,  which,  under  the  ministry  of  a  good  man,  worthy  of 
the  name  of  an  apostle,  has  effected  a  glorious  moral  triumph 
throughout  Ireland,  such  as  the  pages  of  history  scarcely  record. 
I  cannot  gay  that  at  either  place  there  was  no  drinking  and  no 
quarrelling  ;  but  there  was  comparatively  little  ;  and  knowing, 
from  report  and  from  the  natural  excitableness  of  the  Irish  tem- 
per, what  had  been  usual  on  such  occasions,  I  could  not  but  feel 
how  much  had  been  accomplished,  when  a  foreigner  might  truly 
say,  of  such  vast  and  mixed  assemblages,  they  were  quiet,  orderly, 
and  kind ;  and  a  well-behaved  man,  disposed  to  keep  his  elbows 
26 


H02  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

to  his  own  sides,  might  feel  an  almost  equal  security  as  he  would 
feel  in  church. 

2.  The  Gal  way  Women.  —  There  was  another  circumstance, 
perfectly  unique  in  its  character,  to  which  I  shall  be  pardoned 
for  alluding.  There  was  another  species  of  live  stock  exhibited 
at  the  fair,  which  I  cannot  say  is  never  seen  at  such  places,  but 
which  does  not  always  present  itself  under  the  same  frank  cir- 
cumstances. The  kind  nobleman  who  accompanied  me,  and 
who,  like  many  others,  noble  and  simple,  whom  it  has  been  my 
good  fortune  to  meet  with  on  this  side  of  the  water,  left  no  effort 
unessayed  for  my  gratification,  after  looking  at  the  various 
objects  of  the  fair,  asked  me,  at  last,  "if  I  would  like  to  see 
the  girls."  I  confess  my  natural  diffidence  at  once  took  the 
alarm  ;  and  my  imagination  cast  a  few  furtive  glances  over  the 
sea  at  some  precious  objects  I  had  left  behind.  However,  upon  a 
voyage  of  curiosity,  why  should  I  not  see  what  was  to  be  seen  ? 
and,  confident  that  my  good  friend  could  have  no  sinister  design, 
I  gave  him  an  affirmative  reply.  Upon  inquiring  of  one  of  the 
trustees,  or  masters  of  the  fair,  '•  if  the  girls  had  come,"  we 
were  informed  they  would  be  there  at  twelve  o'clock.  At  twelve 
o'clock  we  went,  as  directed,  to  a  part  of  the  ground  higher  than 
the  rest  of  the  field,  where  we  found  from  sixty  to  a  hundred 
young  women,  well  dressed,  with  good  looks  and  good  manners, 
and  presenting  a  spectacle  quite  Avorth  any  civil  man's  looking 
at,  and  in  which,  I  can  assure  my  readers,  there  was  nothing  to 
offend  any  civil  or  modest  man's  feelings.  These  were  the 
marriageable  girls  of  the  country,  who  had  come  to  show  them- 
selves, on  the  occasion,  to  the  young  men  and  others  who 
wanted  wives;  and  this  was  the  plain  and  simple  custom  of 
the  fair.  I  am  free  to  say  that  I  saw  in  the  custom  no  very 
great  impropriety.  It  certainly  did  not  imply  that,  though  they 
were  ready  to  be  had,  any  body  could  have  them.  It  was  not  a 
Circassian  slave-market,  where  the  richest  purchaser  could  make 
his  selection.  They  were  in  no  sense  of  the  term  on  sale ;  nor 
did  they  abandon  their  own  right  of  choice  ;  but  that  which  is 
done  constantly  in  more  refined  society,  under  various  covers 
and  pretences,  —  at  theatres,  balls,  and  public  exhibitions ;  I  will 
say  nothing  about  churches,  —  was  done  by  these  humble  and 
unpretending  people  in  this  straightforward  manner.     Between 


THE    GALWAY    FAIR.  303 

the  noble  duchess,  who  presents  a  long  train  of  daughters,  rus- 
tling in  silk,  and  glittering  with  diamonds,  at  the  queen's  draw- 
ing-room, or  the  ladies  of  rank  and  fashion,  who  appear  at  public 
places  with  all  the  beauty  and  splendor  of  dress  and  ornament 
which  wealth,  and  taste,  and  art,  and  skill,  can  supply,  meaning 
nothing  else  but  "  Admire  me  !  "  and  these  honest  Galway  nymphs 
with  their  fair  complexions  and  their  bright  eyes,  with  their 
white  frilled  caps,  and  their  red  cloaks  and  petticoats,  —  for  this  is 
the  picturesque  costume  of  that  part  of  the  country, — all  willing 
to  endow  some  good  man  with  the  richest  of  all  the  gifts  of 
Heaven,  a  good  and  faithful  wife,  I  can  see  no  essential  dif- 
ference. 

"  Let  not  ambition  mock  their  useful  toil, 
Their  homely  joys,  and  destiny  obscure." 

I  hope  I  shall  be  excused,  if  I  say  something  more  of  these 
Galway  women.  I  never  saw  a  more  handsome  race  of  people. 
I  have  always  been  a  great  admirer  of  beauty  —  natural  beauty, 
personal  beauty,  mental  beauty,  moral  beauty.  For  what  did 
the  Creator  make  things  so  beautiful  as  they  are  made,  but  to 
be  admired  ?  For  what  has  he  endowed  man  with  an  exquisite 
sense  of  beauty,  but  that  he  may  cultivate  it,  and  find  in  it  a 
source  of  pleasure  and  delight?  As  I  have  grown  older,  this 
sense  of  beauty  —  and  I  deem  it  a  great  blessing  from  Heaven  — 
has  become  more  acute ;  and  every  day  of  my  life,  the  world  and 
nature,  nature  and  art,  the  animal,  the  vegetable,  and  the  mineral 
creation,  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  fields  and  flowers,  men, 
women,  and  children,  wit,  genius,  learning,  moral  purity  and 
moral  loveliness,  deeds  of  humanity,  fortitude,  patience,  heroism, 
disinterestedness,  have  seemed  to  me  continually  more  and  more 
beautiful,  as,  at  the  setting  of  the  sun,  man  looks  out  upon  a 
world  made  richer  and  more  glorious  by  his  lingering  radiance, 
and  skies  lit  up  with  an  unwonted  gorgeousness  and  splendor. 
But  the  human  countenance  seems  in  many  cases  to  concentrate 
all  of  physical,  of  intellectual,  and  of  moral  beauty,  which  can 
be  combined  in  one  bright  point.  Why  should  it  not,  therefore, 
be  admired  ?  In  the  commingled  beams  of  kindness  and  good- 
humor  brightening  up  the  whole  face,  like  heat-lightning  in 
summer  on  the  western  sky ;  or  in  the  flashes  of  genius  sparkling 
in  the  eyes  with  a  splendor  which  the  fires  of  no  diamond  can 
rival ;  or  in  the  whole  soul  of  intelligence,  and  noble  thoughts, 


304  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

and  heroic  resolution,  and  strong  and  lofty  passion  glowing  in 
the  countenance,  —  there  is  a  manifestation  of  creative  power,  of 
divine  skill,  unrivalled  in  any  spot  or  portion  of  the  works 
of  God. 

The  extraordinary  personal  beauty  of  these  Galway  women 
was  not  mere  imagination  on  my  part,  nor  the  result  of  any 
undue  susceptibility.  I  said  to  the  coachman,  as  we  passed 
through  this  part  of  the  country,  that  I  never  saw  a  handsomer 
people.  ''  That,"  said  he,  "  travellers  always  remark  ; "  and 
when  I  left  the  country,  in  casting  my  eye  over  a  recent  book 
of  Travels  in  Ireland,  I  found  the  author's  impressions  corre- 
sponded with  my  own.  Tradition  says  that  a  colony  of 
Milesians  formerly  settled  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and  that 
the  remains  of  this  race,  or  the  offspring  of  the  intermixture  of 
them  with  the  native  tribes,  present  these  results.  This  is  a 
remarkable  fact,  and  not  without  its  bearing  upon  one  great 
branch  of  agricultural  improvement. 


LII.— SMITHFIELD,   LONDON. 

The  great  market  for  cattle,  in  England,  perhaps  the  greatest 
in  the  world,  is  at  Smithfield,  in  London.  This  market  is  prin- 
cipally for  fat  cattle  and  sheep,  and  for  cows.  It  is  held  weekly, 
in  the  centre,  and  in  one  of  the  most  crowded  parts,  of  this  great 
metropolis.  Monday  is  the  day  of  general  sale  for  fat  cattle  and 
sheep  ;  Tuesday  for  hay  and  straw  ;  Thursday  is  again  a  day  of 
sale  for  hay  and  straw  ;  and  Friday  for  cattle,  sheep,  swine,  and 
particularly  for  the  sale  of  milch  cows,  and  at  2  o'clock  for  scrub 
horses  and  asses.  This  day  is  not  so  large  a  market  as  Monday, 
and  embraces  the  cattle  that  were  left  over  on  the  Monday's 
market. 

The  market  opens  at  daylight,  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and 
closes  at  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  at  which  time  every  thing, 
sold  or  unsold,  must  be  removed.  The  sheep  and  swine  are 
enclosed  in  pens,  railed  in  with  wood,  and  containing  seldom 
more   than   fifteen   sheep   in  a  pen.     The  cattle,  as  far  as  the 


SMITHFIELD.    LONDON.  305 

accommodations  will  admit,  are  tied,  by  the  horns  or  neck,  to 
long  railings,  which  extend  on  the  outside  of  the  market-place, 
and  likewise  down  the  centre  of  the  area.  Between  the  rows 
of  animals  tied  to  these  rails  and  facing  each  other,  there  is  a 
passage-way ;  and  there  are,  likewise,  open  spaces  behind  them 
^nd  between  them,  so  as  to  enable  the  purchasers  to  see  the 
stock.  In  respect  to  the  supernumerary  animals,  or  those  for 
which,  for  want  of  room,  no  tying-place  is  to  be  had,  they  are 
often  driven  into  small  circles,  and,  by  a  great  deal  of  severity 
and  cruelty,  they  are  made,  after  being  dreadfully  beaten  over 
the  head  and  eyes,  to  stand  with  their  heads  turned  in  towards 
the  centre  of  the  circle.  The  poor  animals,  finding  themselves 
in  so  novel  a  situation,  stunned  with  a  din  and  noise  which  no 
language  can  describe,  and  exhausted  by  fatigue  and  terror,  are 
often  glad  to  be  let  alone,  and  to  remain  quiet  in  situations,  into 
which  they  may  be  forced,  which  would  otherwise  be  scarcely 
endurable.  Man  is  almost  sure  to  be  a  tyrant,  when  possessed 
with  absolute  power ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  he 
will  have  a  heavy  account  to  settle  hereafter  with  the  brute 
animals  which  he  has  most  cruelly  abused.* 

It  is  obvious  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  make  any  exact 
assortment,  or  classification,  of  the  animals  in  the  case,  according 
to  their  different  breeds.  The  sheep  are  placed  in  one  part  of 
the  market.  The  cattle  occupy  another.  The  cows,  and  calves, 
and  swine,  occupy  other  separate  positions.  But  no  classification 
of  the  beasts  into  the  different  breeds  of  Short-Horns,  Herefords, 
Devons,  or  West  Highlanders,  or  Scots,  is  attempted,  although, 
from  the  fact  that  individual  farmers  generally  limit  themselves 
to  one  species  of  stock,  the  contributiojis  of  different  individuals, 
standing  by  themselves,  present  a  sort  of  classification ;  and  so 
give  a  better  opportunity  to  an  intelligent  observer  to  compare 
the  different  breeds  with  each  other. 

*  It  is  said  tliat  much  of  the  cruelty,  which  was  formerly  practised  in  these  cases 
is  now  prevented  by  the  influence  of  the  Animal's  Friend  Society,  an  association 
quite  numerous,  whose  exclusive  object  is  to  prevent  cruelty  to  dumb  beasts,  and 
thus  to  protect  those  who  are  unable  to  protect  themselves.  They  have  numerous 
agents,  and  prosecute,  without  fear  or  favor,  every  case  of  inhumanity,  —  for  it  is  a 
great  misnomer  to  call  such  cases  brutality,  —  which  comes  under  their  notice,  de- 
serving censure  or  punishment.  It  is,  undoubtedly,  greatly  owing  to  their  exer- 
tions, that  the  odious  practices  of  cock-fighting  and  dog-fighting  are  now  not  prac- 
tised ;  or,  if  practised,  conducted  in  the  most  secret  manner. 
26* 


306  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

1.  Forms  of  Business  in  Smithfield.  —  It  is  not  here,  as  it  is 
with  us,  that  a  drover  goes  through  the  country  collecting,  on  his 
route,  cattle  from  the  different  farmers,  as  he  may  chance  to  find 
them ;  but  usually  the  farmer  himself  sends  them  to  Smithfield, 
where  they  are  put  for  sale  into  the  hands  of  an  accredited  agent, 
whose  commission  for  sale  is  established  and  understood.  This 
commission  is  not  a  percentage  upon  the  amount  of  sale,  but  so 
much  per  head.  These,  of  course,  are  persons  well  known,  and 
whose  shrewdness  and  skill  are  undoubted.  In  the  most  extensive 
transactions  of  buying  and  selling,  no  paper  is  passed ;  but  the 
price  of  the  stock  on  sale  being  inquired,  if  the  bargain  is  struck, 
the  buyer  and  seller  merely  touch  each  other's  hand,  and  there  is 
no  retraction.  It  is  highly  creditable  to  the  commercial  charac- 
ter of  the  country,  and  to  the  general  integrity  which  prevails 
among  the  persons  concerned  in  this  great  market,  that,  as  I  am 
informed  by  an  individual  familiar  for  years  with  the  most  ex- 
tensive transactions  in  this  place,  a  failure  to  fulfil  these  engage- 
ments, though  no  paper  is  passed  between  the  parties,  is  of  very 
rare  occurrence. 

In  the  sale  of  sheep  and  cattle,  the  business  is  always  trans- 
acted through  an  accredited  and  established  salesman,  who  has 
his  regular  commissions  upon  every  animal  sold.  The  sales  are 
always  for  cash,  unless  the  salesman  himself  chooses  to  assume 
the  responsibility  of  giving  credit,  and  there  are  always  banking 
houses  in  the  vicinity  to  render  the  usual  facilities  for  business. 

The  customary  commission  for  the  sale  of  an  ox  of  any  value 
is  four  shillings,  or  about  ninety-six  cents  ;  of  a  sheep  eight 
pence  or  sixteen  cents.  The  city  receives  a  toll,  upon  every 
beast  exposed  to  sale  in  Smithfield,  of  one  penny  per  head,  and 
upon  sheep  at  the  rate  of  one  shilling  or  twenty-four  cents  per 
score. 

The  value  of  the  services  of  an  intelligent,  experienced,  and 
honest  salesman,  is  very  great  to  the  farmer,  and  much  beyond 
the  compensation  ordinarily  demanded.  He  is  familiar  with  the 
state  of  the  market,  with  the  supply  to  be  expected,  with  the 
prices  generally  taken,  and  with  the  characters  of  the  persons 
with  whom  he  has  to  deal,  who  know  him  as  well.  The 
farmer,  going  into  the  market  to  sell  his  cattle  for  himself,  is 
liable  to  various  impositions,  of  the  extraordinary  ingenuity  and 
coolness  of  which,  many  experiments  will  not  be  necessary  to 


SMITHFIELD,     LONDON.  307 

convince  him.  It  might  happen,  that,  instead  of  returning  home 
with  bank  notes  and  sovereigns  in  his  pocket,  he  might,  like 
Moses  in  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  bring  back  only  a  quantity  of 
green  spectacles. 

The  state  of  the  market,  the  current  demand,  the  supply  to 
be  expected,  together  with  the  state  of  the  dead-meat  market, 
and  what  supplies  of  meat  already  killed  are  to  be  expected,  are 
all  matters  to  be  taken  into  calculation.  These  are  all  inquired 
into,  and  well  known  to  a  thoroughly  intelligent  and  expe- 
rienced salesman,  but  are  very  imperfectly  understood  by  any 
other  persons  than  those  who  make  it  their  constant  business  to 
become  acquainted  with  them.  The  division  of  labor  is  carried 
to  a  great  extent  in  all  the  business  pursuits  of  this  great  country, 
and,  while  it  seems  unfriendly  to  that  general  tact  with  which 
persons  among  us  apply  themselves  to  a  great  variety  and 
diversity  of  pursuits,  must  obviously  contribute  to  a  high  degree 
of  skill  or  improvement  in  the  particular  art  or  profession  where 
it  is  applied. 

2.  Weights  and  Measures.  — Animals  in  Smithfield  are  almost 
always  sold  on  the  hoof;  yet  an  estimate  is  formed  of  their 
weight,  and  the  price  given  is  calculated  upon  the  number  of 
pounds  the  animal  is  computed  to  yield  after  being  slaughtered. 
The  gross  hundred  weight  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  pounds  is 
still  used  in  England ;  but  the  calculations  are  generally  made  in 
stones  of  eight  pounds.  By  an  act  of  Parliament,  the  stone  of 
fourteen  pounds  is  required  to  be  adopted  in  the  reckoning  in  the 
market ;  but  custom  in  this,  as  in  many  other  cases,  defies  the 
authority  of  the  government,  and  eight  pounds  continue  to  be 
reckoned  as  the  Smithfield  stone. 

The  different  measures  and  weights  used  in  diflferent  parts  of 
the  kingdom  are  extremely  inconvenient,  and  sadly  perplexing 
to  a  stranger.  The  English,  the  Scotch,  and  the  Irish  acre  are 
each  different  from  each  other.  Grain  is,  in  different  places,  sold 
by  the  bushel,  by  the  quarter,  by  the  comb,  by  the  boll,  and  by 
the  load;  and  a  load  is  in  some  places  four,  in  others  three 
bushels.  A  Scotch  pint  is  two  English  quarts.  In  Covent 
Garden  market,  two  pottles  of  strawberries,  containing  little 
more  than  a  pint  each,  are  called  a  gallon.  Potatoes  are  some- 
times sold  by  weight,  and  sometimes  by  the  barrel ;  in  some 


308  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

places  by  the  stone  of  fourteen  pounds,  in  some  by  the  stone  of 
sixteen  pounds.  A  dozen  of  eggs  is  in  some  places  fifteen.  I 
may  perhaps  be  asked,  if  this  is  not  in  Ireland ;  but  I  shall  not 
say,  excepting  to  add,  as  far  as  my  experience  goes,  fifteen  to  a 
dozen  would  be  a  very  proper  index  of  Irish  hospitality  and 
kindness.  In  one  market,  in  Yorkshire,  a  pound  of  butter  is 
twenty  ounces  avoirdupois  ;  in  Staffordshire,  eighteen  ounces. 
In  Norwich,  butter  is  sold  by  the  pint ;  in  Cambridge,  it  is 
literally  sold  by  the  yard,  being  made  into  rolls  of  a  certain  size, 
and  measured  off  in  feet  and  inches.  In  one  of  our  hot  days  in 
July,  with  the  glass  at  95°,  our  market-men,  at  this  rate,  would 
have  little  difficulty  in  giving  full  measure.  I  have  already 
alluded  to  the  force  of  custom.  It  has  many  advantages,  but 
why  should  it  stand  in  the  way  of  improvement  ?  The  preva- 
lence of  an  unmeaning  or  a  useless  custom  has  nothing  to 
recommend  it.  Yet  I  believe  I  shall  be  doing  no  injustice  to  the 
English,  —  the  last  thing  certainly  which  I  should  wish  to  do  to  a 
people  whom  I  so  highly  respect  and  love,  —  if  I  were  to  say, 
many  of  them  greatly  prefer  antiquity  to  utility,  and  will  hold  on 
to  an  ancient  custom  with  the  pertinacity  of  a  drowning  man, 
though  its  meaning  has  entirely  ceased,  and  its  observance  is  on 
every  account  inconvenient  and  burdensome.  With  such  persons, 
all  argument  on  the  subject  of  improvement  is  idle ;  the  concep- 
tion has  never  yet  dawned  upon  them. 

Such  a  varying  standard  of  weight,  or  measure,  or  value, 
renders  many  statements  quite  unintelligible  to  a  stranger  or 
one  ignorant  of  local  customs,  and  comparisons  and  calculations 
all  but  impossible. 

3.  Weight  of  Animals,  Mode  of  ascertaining.  —  The 
weight  of  an  animal  in  Smithfield  is  reckoned  by  the  weight 
of  the  four  quarters.  The  hide,  rough  tallow,  and  offal,  are  not 
taken  into  the  account.  There  are  rules  given  by  which  to 
determine  the  weight  of  animals,  when  slaughtered,  by  external 
measurement  of  them  when  alive.  The  salesmen  in  Smithfield 
do  not  rely  upon  these  rules,  but  estimate  the  weight  of  cattle 
by  the  eye  ;  and  mere  judgment,  founded  upon  long  practice, 
evinces  most  extraordinary  approaches  to  exactness,  seldom  vary- 
ing but  few  pounds.  The  rules,  however,  to  which  I  refer,  have 
a  value  to  persons  who  are  not  accustomed  to  estimate  by  the 


SMITHFIELD,     LONDON.  309 

eye ;  and  a  series  of  tables  have  been  constructed  upon  these 
rules,  which,  if  they  could  be  relied  upon,  would  be  of  consid- 
erable use  in  private  practice.*  The  girth  of  the  ox  (for  it  does 
not  apply  to  cows  as  well  as  to  oxen,  as  their  shape  is  much  less 
regular)  is  to  be  taken  directly  behind  the  shoulder,  and  the 
length  is  to  be  measured  from  the  front  of  the  shoulder-bone  to 
the  end  of  the  bone  on  the  rump,  where  a  line  dropping  down  at 
right  angles  with  the  line  on  the  back  would  just  clear  the 
thigh,  or  buttock.  Then,  according  to  a  rule  given  me  by  Lord 
Spencer,  "  Reduce  the  feet  into  inches  ;  multiply  the  girth  by 
the  length,  and  that  product  by  the  fraction  .001944,  which 
will  give  the  weight  in  pounds ;  "  or,  in  another  form,  as  the  rule 
is  quoted  by  Mr.  Hillyard,  ''Estimating  the  weight  of  a  cubic 
inch  of  meat  at  171  grains,  then  girth  7  feet  6  inches,  and 
length  5  feet  4  inches,  gives  41,235tV(j  cubic  inches,  which, 
multiplied  by  171,  gives  7,051,328  grains,  equal  to  125  stones, 
7  pounds,  of  8  pounds  to  the  stone."  Another  mode  of  estimat- 
ing the  weight  of  cattle  is  to  ascertain  their  live  weight  upon  a 
platform  balance,  common  enough  in  the  United  States.  Then, 
according  to  some  authorities,  every  112  pounds  live  weight 
will  produce  72  pounds  of  beef;  but  a  coarse,  large-boned  ox 
will  not  produce  so  much.  Another  way  is  to  deduct  one  third 
of  the  live  weight,  which  is  commonly  deemed  a  fair  allowance  ; 
and  also,  if  the  beast  is  not  quite  fat,  from  2}  to  5  per  cent,  in 
addition.  Another  able  authority  states,  ''  that  the  proportion 
which  the  dead  weight  bears  to  the  live  weight  of  animals  was 
reckoned  at  one  half  the  live  weight ;  but  subsequent  experi- 
ments in  the  more  improved  breed  of  animals  show  that  this  is 
much  too  small  a  proportion,  it  being  more  correctly  represented 
by  the  fractional  quantity  .605,  the  weight  of  the  animal  being 
assumed  as  1.  This  would  be  about  three  fifths  for  the  dead 
weight.  The  gross  weight  of  the  animal  being  then  multiplied 
by  .605,  will  give  the  result  in  the  same  denomination  in  which 
the  gross  weight  is  given."  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  such 
rules  can  be  little  more  than  an  approximation  to  exactness, 
since   the  circumstances  under   which   the  animal  is  weighed, 


*  These  tables  are  to  be  found  at  large  in  Mr.  Hillyard's  useful  and  sensible 
book,  entitled  «  Practical  Farming  and  Grazing,"  a  fourth  edition  of  which  ap- 
peared in  London  in  1844. 


310 


EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 


whether  upon  a  full  or  an  empty  stomach,  must  essentially  afiect 
the  result.  It  will  be  interesting,  I  am  persuaded,  to  many  of  my 
readers,  if  I  give  an  account  of  the  weights  of  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  animals  which,  within  a  few  years  past,  have  been 
exhibited  at  the  show  of  the  Smithfield  Club,  which  takes  place 
annually  in  December;  and  the  account,  besides  giving  the 
weight  of  the  animals,  will  show,  at  the  same  time,  how  nearly 
the  weight  calculated  by  rule,  and  the  weight  estimated  by  the 
judgment  of  experienced  men,  corresponded  with  the  actual 
weight,  ascertained  upon  the  animals'  being  slaughtered. 


YEAR. 

GIRTH. 

LENGTH 

STONE   OF  EIGHT  POUNDS 

Computed 

Estimated 

Butcher's 

Ft. 

in. 

r  t. 

J.I1. 

might. 

Weight. 

Weight. 

Lord  Spencer's  Durham  ox, .  .  . 

1828 

9. 

2 

6. 

0 

211 

210 

210 

The  Scotch  heifer, 

1830 

7. 

8 

5. 

7 

138 

140 

138 

Mr.  Townsend's  Durham  heifer. 

1833 

8. 

3 

5. 

9 

164 

175 

176^ 

Mr.  Baker's  Durham  ox, 

1833 

8. 

9h 

6. 

0 

195 

205 

206^ 

Mr.  Buckley's  Hereford  ox, .  .  . 

1833 

7. 

n 

5. 

5 

143 

150 

144 

Lord  Spencer's  Durham  ox, .  .  . 

1834 

9. 

7 

6. 

1 

236 

240 

236 

Lord  Oxford's  Hereford  ox, .  .  . 

1834 

9. 

4 

5. 

10 

214 

222 

Mr.Hillyard's       do.     heifer,    . 

1834 

8. 

7 

5. 

7 

175 

184 

192 

Lord  Brownlow's  do.       do.     .  . 

ia34 

8. 

0 

5. 

9 

155 

164 

Marquis  of  Exeter's  do.  do.     .  . 

ia35 

7. 

11 

5. 

0 

134 

138 

142i 

Lord  Spencer's     do.       do.    .  . 

1&35 

7. 

8 

5. 

3 

130 

138 

Lord  Spencer's  Durham  ox, .  .  . 

1835 

9. 

2 

6. 

0 

211 

218 

210 

Lord  Spencer's    do.       do. .  .  . 

1836 

9. 

2 

6. 

1 

215 

222 

218 

Marquis  of  Tavistock's  do.   do. 

1836 

8. 

10 

5. 

8 

187 

196 

Lord  Leicester's  Devon  ox, .  .  . 

1837 

8. 

1 

5. 

2 

142 

145 

152 

Mr.  Giblet's  one  year  old  Devon, 

1837 

8. 

4 

5. 

5 

158 

162 

166.4 

Mr.  Baker's  heifer, 

1837 

7. 

11 

5. 

6 

148 

152 

152.3 

Mr.  Hillyard's  Devon  ox,  .... 

1838 

8. 

1 

5. 

2 

142 

142 

139.6 

Marquis  of  Exeter's  Durham  ox, 

1841 

8. 

9 

5. 

9 

185 

185 

185 

Duke  of  Bedford's  Hereford  ox. 

1841 

8. 

9 

5. 

9 

185 

185 

180 

The  practice  at  Brighton,  Massachusetts,  is  to  sell  the  animal 
at  a  certain  rate  per  pound,  or  per  hundred  pounds.  The  animal 
is  then  slaughtered,  and  the  return  of  his  weight  made  to  the 
owner  or  drover.  The  owner  or  drover  does  not  see  his  animal 
killed  or  weighed.  The  market  takes  place  on  Monday,  but  he 
is  commonly  detained  until  Thursday,  before  the  weight  of  the 
animal  is  ascertained,  and  he  receives  his  pay.  This,  besides  its 
expense,  is  on  every  account  a  serious  evil.  It  cannot  be  denied, 
likewise,    that   the  temptations  to  a   fraudulent  return   of  the 


311 

weight  are  very  strong,  and  that  much  dissatisfaction,  very 
often  without  question  groundless,  frequently  arises.  It  is 
surprising  how  near  to  exactness  the  judgment  of  an  intelligent 
and  experienced  man  approaches  ;  but  as  this  method  is  liable  to 
the  objection  of  a  man's  being  judge  in  his  own  case,  it  would 
seem  very  desirable  that  some  less  exceptionable  method  should 
be  adopted.  I  can  think  of  no  one  more  eligible  than  that  of 
ascertaining  the  live  weight  on  a  platform  balance,  and  then 
adopting  some  general  rule  as  to  the  allowance  to  be  made  for 
the  difference  betAveen  the  live  and  the  dead  weight.  A  rate  of 
discount  or  allowance,  founded  upon  repeated  and  exact  experi- 
ments, would  be  equally  fair  for  both  parties.  The  adoption  of 
such  a  rule  would  be  of  the  greatest  service  in  enabling  the 
drover  or  owner  to  close  his  business  in  one  day,  and  would,  in 
general,  be  much  more  satisfactory  to  the  farmer,  who  sends  his 
cattle  to  market,  and  is  not  always  without  his  suspicions  of  an 
imperfect  retiu-n.  I  offer  these  suggestions  with  great  diffidence, 
especially  when  I  read,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  me  by  a  practical 
man,  "that  there  is  no  mathematical  rule  upon  which  he  places 
any  reliance  ,*  that  he  has  often  been  invited  to  test  the  correct- 
ness of  measuring  beasts,  and  also  to  determine  their  dead,  from 
ascertaining  their  live  weight,  but  has  found  that  no  confidence 
can  be  placed  upon  such  rules."  He  adds,  "  that  after  handling 
beasts  to  ascertain  their  fatness,  the  mind,  by  practice,  is  in- 
tuitively impressed  with  about  the  Aveight  of  the  four  quarters, 
exclusive  of  any  offal ;  and  that  experienced  men  can  tell  the 
weight  of  beasts,  on  an  average,  within  three  stone  of  eight 
pounds,  and  of  sheep  within  two  pounds."  I  believe  all  this  ; 
and  it  presents  a  beautiful  example  of  what  the  mind  is  capable 
of,  and  of  w^hat  it  may  be  brought  to  under  careful  training  and 
long  practice.  We  certainly  know  that  the  mind  is  a  very  good 
clock,  and  measures  the  time  with  wonderful  exactness,  both 
sleeping  and  waking.  I  have  been  often  struck  Avith  the  extra- 
ordinary precision  with  Avhich  the  poor  blind  horses,  Avhich  move 
the  ferry-boat  between  Troy  and  the  Albany  side  of  the  river, 
measure  the  distance  Avhich  they  have  come,  and  after  making  a 
pause  just  before  they  touch  the 'Opposite  shore,  seem  to  know 
exactly  hoAv  many  more  strokes  or  turns  to  give  to  the  paddles, 
in  order  to  reach  it.  I  hope  I  shall  not  offend  the  pride  of  any 
of  my  readers,  by  this  comparison  of  the  brute  Avith  the  human 


312  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

mind.  Man  is  very  apt  to  think  himself  the  only  knowing 
animal  upon  the  earth ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  some  of  the 
lower  animals  have  the  same  self-conceit.  It  is  interesting  to 
see  reason  and  moral  sentiment,  the  noblest  gift  of  Heaven,  any 
where  diffused,  and  even  in  the  most  humble  forms.  Such  indi- 
cations strengthen  the  claims  which  all  sentient  beings  have 
upon  our  kindness  and  respect ;  and  several  of  the  lower  animals 
—  if  any  being  is  to  be  considered  inferior  who  accomplishes  the 
true  pm-poses  of  his  creation  —  read  many  striking  moral  lessons 
to  mankind. 

The  character  of  a  salesman  in  Smithfield  Market,  for  judg- 
ment and  integrity,  is  of  immense  importance  to  him.  He  is 
forbidden  by  law  to  purchase  on  his  own  account ;  and  it  is 
clearly  most  important  that  his  private  interest  should  not  con- 
flict with  that  of  his  employer.  But  it  is  easy  to  see  the  futility 
of  all  laws  to  make  men  honest,  where  evasions  in  a  variety  of 
forms  are  so  practicable.  Personal  character,  and  a  healthful 
state  of  public  opinion,  form,  in  such  cases,  the  great  security. 

4.  Amount  of  Business.  —  The  amount  of  business  transacted 
in  Smithfield  is  enormous.  It  is  estimated  at  not  less  than 
£100,000,  or  half  a  million  of  dollars,  every  week.  The  Smith- 
field  Market  is  certainly  one  of  the  great  sights  of  London. 
The  returns  of  the  market  on  the  Christmas  week  of  1844, 
when  I  was  present,  gave  5000  beasts  and  47,000  sheep.  This 
was  considered  the  largest  market  ever  remembered  ;  and  the 
extraordinary  quantity  of  stock  was  doubtless,  in  some  measure, 
to  be  attributed  to  the  severe  drought  of  the  preceding  summer, 
and  the  consequent  scarcity  of  fodder,  which  compelled  the 
farmers  to  lessen  their  stock.  The  largest  return  of  stock 
ascertained  for  any  year,  between  the  years  1821  and  1842,  was 
in  the  year  1838,  and  was. 

Of  cattle, 183,362 

Of  sheep, 1,403,400 

In  the  year  1830,  there  were  sold  in  Smithfield, 

Beasts, • 159,907 

Sheep, 1,287,071 

Pigs, 254,672 

Calves, 22,500 


SMITHFIELD,    LONDON.  313 

In  the  year  1842, 

Of  cattle, 175,347 

Of  sheep,  . 1,468,960 

The  supphes  since  that  have  not  diminished.  But  this  by  no 
means  comprehends  the  whole  supply  of  provision  to  London, 
as  immense  amounts  of  slaughtered  meat  are  brought  constantly 
to  the  dead  market,  from  distant  parts  of  the  kingdom,  by  the 
innumerable  steam  conveyances,  which  have  so  much  increased 
the  facilities  of  access  to  the  metropoUs.  We  need  scarcely  be 
surprised  at  any  distance  from  which  it  may  be  brought,  since  I 
have  seen  Leicester  or  Southdown  mutton,  killed  and  dressed  in 
England,  for  sale  in  the  market  at  Boston.  In  spite  of  the 
doctrines  of  restricted  or  free  trade,  the  benevolent  mind  cannot 
help  rejoicing  in  a  facility  of  intercourse,  which  renders  the 
mutual  interchange  of  the  respective  advantages  and  blessings 
of  ditferent  countries  and  climates  so  convenient,  and  thus  does 
away  forever  with  all  that  fear  of  want  or  famine  which,  in 
former  times,  so  often  followed  any  extraordinary  contingency 
of  the  seasons.  The  quantity  of  meat,  and  that  principally 
mutton,  brought  from  six  different  ports  in  Scotland  to  London, 
was  ascertained,  in  one  case,  to  be  about  2364  tons  in  six  months  ; 
besides  a  very  large  amount  of  live  stock.  It  has  probably 
greatly  increased  with  the  opening  of  every  new  means  of 
conveyance. 

The  friend  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  much  of  the  above 
information,  in  regard  to  Smithfield,  states  the  average  weekly 
sale  of  beasts  in  Smithfield  at  about  3000,  and  of  sheep,  about 
30,000  ;  of  calves,  about  300 ;  of  pigs,  about  500.  At  the  dead 
market,  about  3000  sheep  are  sold  weekly.  Of  the  live  stock,  the 
beasts  average  from  £15  to  £18  per  head,  and  sheep  30  shillings. 
A  pound  in  this  case  may  be  most  conveniently  reckoned  at  five 
dollars,  and  a  shilling,  therefore,  at  a  quarter  of  a  dollar.  The 
average  age  of  beasts  sold  in  Smithfield  is  from  two  to  three 
years,  and  of  sheep  from  fifteen  months  to  two  years.  It  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  these  returns  by  any  means  embrace  all 
the  beasts  slaughtered,  or  the  meat  consumed  in  the  metropolis 
and  its  vicinity ;  for  great  numbers  are  sold  before  they  reach 
the  market,  and  are  therefore  not  reported.  Vast  amounts,  like- 
wise, are  imported  from  Ireland ;  and  the  cotters  of  this  fertile 
27 


314  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

but  wretched  country,  where  a  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants 
are,  for  a  considerable  part  of  the  year,  upon  the  borders  of 
steirvation,  are  obhged  to  see  their  only  pig  —  the  companion  and 
pet  of  their  children  —  and  their  only  calf  or  steer,  sent  off  to 
other  markets  to  fill  other  mouths.  Smithfield,  though  much 
the  largest,  is  only  one  of  the  markets  of  the  country ;  but  the 
immense  supplies  which  are  here  furnished  must  give  some 
idea  of  the  improvement  and  degree  of  perfection  of  the  agricul- 
ture of  a  country  from  which  they  are  drawn. 

The  poultry  markets,  and  the  markets  for  game,  are  also  most 
extensive.  The  fish  markets  in  London  seem  to  me  unsur- 
passed for  their  excellence,  and  certainly  embrace  a  great 
variety  of  the  very  best  kinds.  These,  of  course,  furnish  their 
full  proportion  of  the  supplies  of  London. 

5.  Character  and  (Quality  of  Stock.  —  The  quality  of  the 
cattle  exhibited  in  Smithfield  market,  of  sheep  in  particular,  is 
extraordinary  for  its  fatness.  The  show  of  the  Smithfield  Club, 
which  is  held  in  December,  under  the  patronage  of  some  of  the 
first  noblemen  in  the  kingdom,  may  very  properly  be  denom- 
inated a  show  of  monstrosities  in  the  way  of  fatness.  They  are 
moving  elephantine  masses  of  flesh,  and  if,  as  according  to 
modern  chemical  philosophy,  all  fat  is  the  result  of  disease,  they 
are  far  from  being  attractive  to  any  but  the  grossest  epicure. 
No  advantage  can  come  from  rearing  animals  to  such  an  inor- 
dinate degree  of  fatness,  save  in  the  matter  of  showing  what  the 
art  of  man  can  accomplish  in  respect  to  the  animal  economy, 
and  also  that  of  testing  the  nutritious  and  fattening  qualities  of 
different  kinds  of  food. 

In  respect  to  the  weight  of  the  animals  in  Smithfield,  an  indi- 
vidual familiar  with  the  subject,  and  in  whom  I  have  great  con- 
fidence, states  that  the  beasts  from  two  to  three  years  old  will 
average  from  85  to  100  stone  of  8  pounds,  or  from  680  to  800 
pounds,  when  dressed  —  that  is,  the  four  quarters.  Others  place 
it  riot  higher  than  82  stone,  or  656  pounds ;  of  calves,  150 
pounds  ;  of  pigs,  100  pounds ;  of  sheep,  90  pounds.  Calves  are 
seldom  sent  to  market  under  six  or  eight  weeks  old ;  and  large 
hogs  are  never  seen  in  the  market.  If  we  may  rely  upon  ancient 
authorities,  within  a  century  past  the  weight  of  animals  in 
Smithfield   Market   has  nearly   doubled ;    perhaps    more    than 


SMITHFIELD,    LONDON.  315 

doubled.  It  is  said  that,  in  1710,  the  average  weight  of  beasts 
was  370  pounds  ;  of  calves,  50  pounds  ;  of  sheep  and  lambs,  28 
pounds.  This  increase  of  size  is  probably  attributable  in  the 
main  to  two  great  causes,  which  deserve  serious  consideration. 
The  first  is,  the  improvement  of  the  breeds  of  cattle.  A  person 
has  only  to  go  into  Smithfield  Market  to  remark  the  perfection 
to  which  the  art  of  breeding  has  been  carried,  and  the  distinct- 
ness of  the  lines  by  Avhich  the  different  breeds  are  separated 
from  each  other.  Three  great  points  seem  to  have  been  gained. 
The  first  is,  great  size  and  weight  have  been  attained ;  the 
second  is,  the  tendency  to  fatten,  and  to  keep  in  fat  condition, 
has  been  greatly  cultivated ;  the  third  is,  that  the  animal  arrives 
early  at  maturity.  All  these  are  most  important  points ;  the  last 
certainly  not  least ;  for  if  an  animal  can  be  brought  to  the  same 
size  and  weight,  without  doubling  the  expense,  at  eighteen 
months  old,  that  he  could  formerly  be  made  to  reach  not  sooner 
than  at  three  years  of  age,  the  quick  returns,  so  essential  in  all 
commercial  transactions,  are  secured,  and  as  the  expenses  are 
lessened,  the  profits  are  greatly  increased.  Nothing  strikes  one 
with  more  surprise  than  to  see  what,  in  the  improvement  of  the 
appearance  and  constitution  of  the  stock,  intelligence,  skill,  and 
perseverance  can  effect.  I  may  here  with  propriety  quote  what 
my  friend,  before  referred  to,  says  in  relation  to  the  quality  of 
the  stock  in  Smithfield.  ''  I  fear  many  of  our  breeds  of  beasts 
and  sheep  are  becoming  worse  than  they  were,  from  an  exces- 
sive attention  to  neatness  and  symmetry  of  form,  so  that  bulk 
and  quantity  of  good  fiesh  have  been  too  much  overlooked. 
Our  Hereford  beasts  are  much  inferior  to  what  they  were  ;  also 
other  breeds  of  beasts;  and  particularly  some  breeds  of  sheep. 
Some  persons  are  so  very  particular  about  purity  of  blood,  that 
they  often  run  into  great  error ;  their  stock  losing  flesh,  constitu- 
tion, and  size.  This  is  particularly  observable  in  Leicester 
sheep.  So  wedded  are  some  persons  to  this  breed,  and  to  what 
they  call  purity  of  blood,  that  their  sheep  keep  dwindling  into 
very  insignificant  stock.  I  am  satisfied  that  we  cannot  go  on 
breeding  in  and  in,  without  losing  size,  quality,  and  worth."  I 
give  these  opinions  of  a  very  practical  man,  as  familiar  with  the 
Smithfield  Market  as  any  man  in  England,  without  endorsing 
them,  and  leave  them  to  speak  for  themselves. 

The  second  great  cause  of  the  improvement  of  the  stock  in 


316  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

Smithfield  Market  is,  the  improvement  of  the  husbandry  of  the 
country,  particularly  by  the  introduction  of  what  is  called  the 
alternate  husbandry,  and  the  cultivation  of  green  crops.  The 
cultivation  of  turnips  and  swedes  is  comparatively  modern  ;  and 
perhaps  no  single  circumstance  has  effected  so  great  an  improve- 
ment in  the  agricultural  condition  of  the  country.  Formerly, 
cattle  were  fatted,  if  fatted  at  all,  upon  grass  and  hay,  and  these 
of  inferior  kinds  ,*  the  store  stock  were  wintered  upon  straw,  and 
came  to  the  spring  in  such  a  condition  that  the  greater  part  of 
the  summer  was  required,  in  order  to  recover  what  they  had 
lost  in  the  winter.  Now,  the  introduction  of  the  artificial 
grasses,  clover,  and  rye-grass,  the  growing  of  vetches,  rape, 
turnips,  swedes,  carrots,  and  mangel-wurzel,  and  the  use  of 
oil-cake,  have  multiplied  in  an  extraordinary  manner  the  re- 
sources of  the  farmer  ;  and  the  practice  of  folding  his  sheep,  and 
stall-feeding  his  fatting  beasts,  give  him  a  command  of  feed,  and, 
if  I  may  so  say,  such  a  control  over  the  season,  that  the  results 
are  most  remarkable  in  the  supply  of  the  market,  at  all  times  of 
the  year,  with  animals  of  the  finest  description. 

I  may  be  inquired  of,  what  I  think  of  the  English  meats. 
The  fatness  of  the  beef  and  mutton  is  most  remarkable.  I  have 
seen  single  beasts  in  the  United  States  as  fat  as  any  I  have  seen 
here  ;  but  these  are  comparatively  rare  exceptions  ;  and  here  the 
general  character  of  the  beasts  and  sheep  is,  in  this  respect,  most 
striking.  It  would,  however,  I  fear,  be  hopeless  to  attempt  to 
persuade  an  Englishman  of  that  which  is  my  honest  conviction  — 
that  our  meats  are  sweeter  to  the  taste  than  those  which  I  have 
eaten  here.  Oar  poultry  is  incomparably  better.  An  English- 
man will  be  likely  to  set  this  down  as  mere  prejudice,  which 
possibly  it  may  be,  for  who  can  escape  such  prejudices,  or  be 
fully  conscious  of  them  when  they  exist  ?  —  but  I  believe  it  is  not 
prejudice,  but  Indian  corn,  (the  grain  upon  which  our  animals  are 
fatted,)  which  gives  to  their  meat  a  peculiar  sweetness,  which  is 
not  produced  by  other  feed.  Our  beef  animals  are  not  killed 
until  from  five  to  seven  years  old,  and  our  sheep  seldom  until 
three  years  old.  Here  sheep  are  killed  at  about  fifteen  months, 
and  beasts  at  two  years  and  upwards.  The  flesh  of  these  young 
animals  is  wanting  in  that  consistency  which  more  age  would 
give,  though  an  extreme  on  the  other  side,  and  the  hard-working 
of  our  oxen  until  eight  and  ten  years  old,  is  liable  to  give  a 


I 


317 

toughness  to  the  meat,  which  would  not  be  found  if  fatted  at  £in 
earlier,  though  not  a  very  early,  period.  If  price  is  to  be  taken 
as  a  correct  index  of  quality,  then  it  will  be  found  that  the  beef 
of  the  small  West  Highland  cattle,  and  the  mutton  of  the  Welsh 
sheep,  are  decidedly  superior  to  any  other,  the  prices  which  they 
command  being  always  higher  than  others.  The  smaller  size, 
and  the  better  intermixture  of  lean  and  fat  meat  which  they 
present,  render  them  more  convenient  for  family  dishes,  and 
more  attractive  than  those  immense  rumps  of  beef,  and  saddles 
and  legs  of  mutton,  covered  with  an  inordinate  thickness  of  fat, 
which,  by  their  grossness,  repel  any  but  the  most  inveterate 
epicure  —  the  animal  who  seems  to  live  only  to  eat. 

My  conviction  is,  that  there  is  no  agricultural  improvement  in 
England  so  great  and  striking  as  that  which  has  been  effected 
in  their  live  stock :  I  refer  particularly  to  its  size,  aptitude  to 
fatten,  early  maturity,  symmetry,  and  beauty.  Of  the  milking 
and  dairy  properties  of  their  stock,  I  shall  speak  hereafter.  I 
must  include,  likewise,  in  my  commendation,  their  horses  —  work- 
ing, carriage,  pleasure,  and  race  horses.  It  could  scarcely  be 
expected  to  be  otherwise.  The  highest  degree  of  skill  has  been 
concentrated  upon  these  objects  ;  and  this  skill  has  been  stim- 
ulated by  premiums  of  the  most  honorable  and  liberal  character, 
and  by  expenditures  absolutely  enormous.  The  splendid  and 
magnificent  premiums  of  gold  and  silver  plate  for  successful 
competition,  which  one  sees  on  the  tables  and  sideboards  of  the 
fortunate  winners  all  over  the  country,  and  which  are  exhibited 
with  an  honest  pride,  while  they  display  the  highest  triumphs 
of  artistical  skill  and  taste,  serve  only  to  fan  the  flame  which 
they  enkindle,  and  to  quicken  an  ambition,  which  never  can  be 
quiet  while  a  more  distant  point  remains  to  be  attained.  How 
happy  would  it  be  for  the  world,  if  human  ambition  were  always 
directed  to  objects  so  innocent  and  commendable ;  to  pm-poses 
which  benefit,  instead  of  those  which  curse,  the  world ;  to  the 
triumphs  of  genius,  industry,  and  science,  over  the  elements  of 
nature,  instead  of  the  bloody  conquests  of  power,  avarice,  and 
despotism,  over  human  comfort,  liberty,  and  life ! 

6.  Smithfield  by  Night.  —  Smithfield  by  night,  and  in  a 
dark  night,  presents  a  most  extraordinary  scene,  which,  though  I 
have  witnessed  it,  it  would  be  very  difficult  for  me  adequately 

27* 


318  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTLRE. 

to  describe.  A  large  proportion  of  the  stock  arrive  in  the 
neighborhood  of  London  either  on  Saturday  or  early  on  Sunday, 
where  they  are  fed  in  the  fields,  or  the  extensive  lairs  prepared 
for  their  reception.  These  lairs,  especially  Laycock's  at  Isling- 
ton, are  well  worth  a  visit,  being  composed  of  open  yards  and 
most  extensive  sheds,  covering  fourteen  acres  of  ground,  fur- 
nished with  watering  troughs  and  mangers,  and  divided  into 
different  compartments.  Here  the  farmer  or  drover  is  supplied 
with  hay  or  straw  for  his  stock,  not  by  the  day  or  night,  but  by 
the  truss,  the  hay  which  is  sold  in  London  being  always  put  up 
and  tied  in  bundles  of  56  pounds  each  —  certainly  an  excellent 
arrangement,  which,  while  it  prevents  all  temptations  to  waste, 
requires  a  purchaser  to  pay  only  for  that  which  he  has.  The 
cattle  here  get  a  little  rest  and  refreshment  in  these  stalls  after 
their  long  journeys ;  and  here  they  are  visited  by  the  salesmen 
preparatory  to  their  appearance  in  the  market  on  Monday.  It 
would  not  be  surprising,  likewise,  and  not  altogether  unlike 
some  occurrences  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  if  some  pur- 
chasers, with  an  acquisitiveness  not  disturbed  by  religious 
scruples,  should  occasionally  make  their  way  there  and  an- 
ticipate the  bargains  of  the  ensuing  day.*  About  midnight  the 
different  detachments,  almost  treading  upon  the  heels  of  each 
other,  begin  to  make  their  way  to  the  place  of  rendezvous 
through  the  winding  streets  of  this  wilderness  of  houses,  and 
enter  the  great  market-place  by  different  and  opposite  avenues, 
and,  like  hostile  parties,  often  meet  each  other  in  the  very  centre. 
Then  comes  the  conflict :  the  driving  of  so  many  thousand  of 
sheep  into  their  several  pens ;  the  assorting  and  tying  up,  or  arran- 
ging, so  many  thousand  of  cattle,  driven  into  a  state  of  terror  and 
frenzy  by  the  men  and  dogs ;  the  struggles  of  the  different  owners 
or  drovers  to  keep  their  own  and  prevent  their  intermingling 
with  others ;  the  occasional  leaping  the  barriers,  and  the  escape 
of  some  straggler,  who  is  to  be  brought  back  by  violence ;  the 
sounds  of  the  heavy  blows  over  the  heads,  and  horns,  and  sides, 
of  the  poor  crazed  animals ;  the  shrieks  of  the  men ;  the  yelling 
and  barking  of  hundreds  of  dogs,  who  look  after  the  sheep  and 


*  I  will  say,  however,  by  the  way,  and  as  an  act  of  simple  justice,  that  London, 
as  well  as  every  other  part  of  England  which  I  have  visited,  is  remarkable  for  its 
sober  and  decorous  observance  of  the  Lord's  Dav. 


319 

cattle  with  a  ferocity  perfectly  terrific,  and  a  sagacity  almost 
human;  the  bellowing  of  the  cattle,  and  the  bleating  of  the 
calves  ;  forming,  if  the  expression  is  allowable,  a  concert  of  dis- 
cordant sounds  utterly  indescribable  and  hideous  ;  and  in  the 
midst  of  all  this  confusion,  the  darting  about  of  hundreds  of 
torches,  carried  in  the  hand  by  men  looking  for  their  cattle  and 
sheep,  and  seeking  to  identify  their  marks, — all  together  present 
an  exhibition  for  which  it  certainly  would  be  difficult  to  find  a 
parallel,  and  sufficiently  gratifying  to  the  lovers  of  the  pic- 
turesque in  human  affairs.  The  calves  and  pigs  enter  the 
market  in  a  more  aristocratic  style,  in  carriages  and  vans,  with 
the  regular  attendance  of  out-riders  and  footmen  ;  but  in  spite  of 
this  luxury,  after  the  example  of  some  of  their  betters,  these 
indulgences  do  not  appear  to  lessen  or  quiet  all  their  complaints, 
and  they  add  their  portion  to  the  general  harmony.  Their 
owners  are  quite  wise  to  carry,  instead  of  attempting  to  drive, 
them  ;  for  I  think  no  human  power  would  be  sufficient  to  drive 
and  assort  a  herd  of  pigs,  coming  into  a  scene  of  this  description. 
When  the  day  dawns,  however,  every  thing  is  found  in  order  ,* 
all  the  different  parties  at  their  respective  posts ;  and  the 
immense  business  is  transacted  with  a  despatch,  an  efficiency, 
and  precision,  which  are  quite  remarkable. 

7.  Attempted  Removal  of  the  Market  from  the  City.  — 
It  certainly  is  not  a  little  surprising  that  a  market  of  this  descrip- 
tion should  be  held  in  the  midst  of  such  a  city  as  this.  Its  name 
implies  that,  in  former  times,  it  was  held  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
town  ;  but  that  time  must  have  long  since  passed  away,  and  the 
''  field,"  so  called,  is  now  surrounded  with  miles  of  houses  in  every 
direction,  and  in  the  very  centre  of  a  most  densely-packed  popu- 
lation. It  would  seem,  at  first  sight,  that  the  obvious  and  innu- 
merable discomforts  of  such  an  arrangement,  and  the  danger  to 
human  person  and  life  from  driving  so  many  beasts  through  the 
crowded  streets,  were  sufficient  reasons  for  transferring  the  whole 
business  to  a  more  retired  and  convenient  situation  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  London.  A  wealthy  individual  by  the  name  of 
Perkins,  under  the  influence  of  the  best  of  motives,  made  an 
attempt  to  do  this,  and  erected  an  establishment  for  a  market  at 
Islington,  about  two  miles  from  the  centre  of  London,  which  is 
well  worth  looking  at  for  the  completeness  and  excellence  of  its 


320  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

arrangements.  The  cost  of  the  estabhshment  is  said  to  have 
been  £100,000,  or  half  a  million  of  dollars.  It  forms  a  hollow- 
square,  and  embraces  a  space  of  more  than  twenty  acres,  com 
pletely  enclosed  by  high  brick  walls,  which  form  the  backs  of 
deep  sheds,  slated,  and  open  in  front,  furnished  with  mangers  and 
with  water  troughs  supplied  from  two  very  large  tanks  in  the 
centre  of  the  yard,  which  are  kept  constantly  filled  by  machinery 
from  wells  sunk  in  the  neighborhood.  The  sheds  are  capable  of 
accommodating  4000  beasts ;  and  here  they  might  remain  from 
day  to  day  until  sold,  without  inconvenience.  In  the  centre  of 
this  immense  quadrangle  are  four  extensive  squares,  all  neatly 
paved  with  flat  stones,  and  divided  into  several  compartments, 
railed  in  with  neat  iron  railings,  and  capable  of  accommodating 
40,000  sheep.  Other  pens  are  constructed  for  calves,  pigs,  and 
other  animals  usually  brought  to  market  ,*  and  all  are  arranged  in 
the  most  simple  and  convenient  method,  with  ample  passages 
furnishing  easy  access  to  every  part  of  the  enclosure.  Besides 
these,  there  are  convenient  and  ample  offices  for  all  the  various 
clerks,  salesmen,  bankers,  &c.,  connected  with  the  business ;  and 
it  was  designed  to  erect  commodious  hotels  for  the  acommoda- 
tion  of  persons  attending  the  market,  and  extensive  slaughter- 
houses for  the  killing  of  the  cattle,  directly  in  the  neighborhood. 
The  whole  space  is  entered  under  a  handsome  archway ;  and  for 
its  particular  purposes,  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  any 
thing  more  commodious  or  better  arranged. 

In  spite  of  all  these  obvious  advantages,  the  market  could  not 
be  removed  from  Smithfield.  The  persons  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  old  market  whose  business  and  profits  were  intimately 
connected  with  it,  opposed  its  removal.  There  was  fear  of  a 
rival  market  being  got  up  on  the  other  side  of  the  city.  The 
city  would  lose  the  tolls,  which  are  now  received  at  Smithfield, 
and  which,  in  the  course  of  the  year,  make  up  no  inconsiderable 
revenue.  The  meat,  if  the  animals  were  slaughtered  out  of  the 
town,  would,  of  necessity,  have  to  be  conveyed  to  the  city  in 
carts,  whereas,  now,  much  of  it  is  killed  directly  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  market.  These  and  many  other  reasons  were 
urged,  but,  perhaps,  would  not  have  availed,  excepting  for  the 
fact  that  Smithfield  was  discovered  to  be  a  chartered  market,  for 
the  sale  of  cattle  ;  and  the  twelve  judges  of  the  high  courts 
decided,   upon   consultation,   that    this    charter    could   not    be 


SWITHFIELD,    LONDON.  321 

abrogated ;  and  even  ni  spite  of  an  act  of  Parliament,  which 
was  obtained  in  the  case,  this  great  public  nuisance  must  be 
continued. 

8.  Chartered  Rights.  —  When  the  vast  amounts  of  property, 
which  are  here  locked  up,  by  the  disposal  of  generations  long 
since  departed,  for  the  most  frivolous,  useless,  and  obsolete  pur- 
poses, and  under  the  most  absurd  tenures,  are  considered,  and 
that  even  public  and  acknowledged  nuisances  cannot  be  abated, 
while  maintained  under  the  plea  of  chartered  rights,  it  is  quite 
well  worth  considering  whether  this  doctrine  does  not  admit  of 
some  qualifications,  which  would  render  its  operation  less  bur- 
densome and  offensive.  Many  cases,  which  are  constantly 
occurring,  would  do  much  towards  reconciling  one  to  an  occa- 
sional and  general  revolution,  under  which,  freed  from  the  rusty 
fetters  of  ancient  prejudices,  superstitions,  follies,  and  crimes, 
society  might  take  a  new  start,  and  avail  itself  of  the  improved 
experience  and  enlightenment  of  modern  times.  The  right  of  a 
man  to  dispose  of  property,  after  his  death,  other  than  that  which 
is  the  direct  fruit  of  his  own  skill  and  industry,  is,  in  my  mind, 
quite  questionable  on  moral  and  economical,  however  well  estab- 
lished it  may  be  upon  legal  grounds ;  and  I  hope  I  shall  not  give 
offence  by  an  opinion,  however  erroneous,  yet  very  honestly  held, 
that  no  man,  under  any  circumstances,  has  a  right  to  appropriate 
property  to  any  object  which  the  state  may  not  annul  when  that 
object  becomes  either  pernicious  or  useless ;  above  all,  that  no 
man,  under  any  circumstances,  has  any  right  in  the  soil,  which 
is  not  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  the  state,  always  premising  that 
the  state  make  adequate  compensation  for  individual  cases  of 
hardship  or  injury,  and  for  any  substantial  improvement,  which 
may  have  been  eifected  in  the  property  by  the  labor  or  skill,  or 
at  the  personal  expense,  of  the  occupier.  Let  us  suppose,  for 
example,  that  Smithfield  had  been,  by  some  ancient  charter, 
appropriated  exclusively  for  public  executions,  —  as  it  was  indeed 
the  melancholy  site  of  the  martyrdom  of  Rogers,  and  other 
heroic  victims  to  bigotry,  —  and  that  the  government  determined 
that  executions  should  cease  to  be  public,  or  should  take  place  in 
the  prison-yard  ;  or,  what  is  infinitely  to  be  desired,  that,  under 
the  mild  influences  of  Christianity,  the  punishment  of  death 
should  be  abolished ;   must  this  field  therefore  forever  remain 


322  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

useless  and  unoccupied?  The  English,  as  I  have  before  had 
occasion  to  remark,  —  and  I  do  it  certainly  as  far  as  possible 
removed  from  any  spirit  of  censoriousness  or  ill-humor,  —  are 
excessively  conservative.  Their  judges  still  swelter  under  their 
full-bottomed  wigs ;  and  their  courtiers  and  civilians,  in  the  midst 
of  crowds  of  gentle  ladies,  wear  swords  on  state  occasions,  when 
there  is  reason  to  think  that  some  of  them,  if  called  upon  to 
draw  and  defend  themselves,  would  scarcely  know  which  end  to 
seize  upon.  I  am  not  for  indiscriminate  changes ;  but  I  go  for 
universal  improvement,  wherever  the  improvement  to  be  made  is 
obvious,  decided,  practicable,  and  remunerative.  If  otherwise, 
what  is  the  value  of  experience  and  of  education  ?  and  how  idle 
it  is  to  talk  of  the  progress  of  society !  Even  in  this  matter  of 
chartered  rights,  the  government,  with  an  inconsistency  not  un- 
common, does  not  hesitate  to  take  private  property  for  public 
uses,  and  to  invade  the  property  even  of  charitable  trusts  for  the 
passage  of  railroads,  which,  whatever  may  be  said  of  their  public 
uses,  can  scarcely  be  considered  in  any  other  light  than  as 
private  corporations.  I  should  be  glad  to  know  what  business 
has  a  dead  man  with  the  affairs  of  the  living ;  and  what  has  a 
man  to  do  with  the  earth  after  he  has  left  it?  He  has  had  his 
day,  and  is  of  no  further  use  in  it,  excepting  in  the  good  example 
which  he  may  have  left  behind  him.  Indeed,  as  Goldsmith 
remarks,  he  takes  care  to  rob  it  of  what  little  he  might  return 
for  its  benefit,  by  ordering  himself  to  be  buried  six  feet  below 
the  surface.  The  earth  belongs  exclusively  to  those  who 
occupy  it.  It  seems  to  me  to  behoove  us  much  more  to  take 
care  for  the  good  of  those  who  are  to  come  after  us,  and  may  be 
essentially  affected  by  what  we  do,  than  for  the  wills  of  those 
who  have  gone  before  us  —  whom  what  we  do,  or  are,  cannot 
affect  at  all ;  and  who  themselves,  if  they  were  now  living, 
would  see,  in  a  change  of  circumstances,  the  absurdity,  or  use- 
lessness,  or  inconvenience,  or  hardship,  of  the  arrangements 
which  they  propose,  and  be  among  the  foremost  to  condemn 
and  alter  them.  If  public  faith  requires  that  the  wills  of  those 
who  have  departed  should  be  observed,  it  should  take  care  that 
the  objects  for  which  those  wills  provide  should  be  in  them- 
selves just,  i-easonable,  and  useful,  as  long  as  that  provision  may 
continue ;  but  the  locking  up  of  land  in  perpetuum,  for  private 
or  public  uses,  seems  of  very  questionable  right  and  expediency. 


GRAIN    MARKETS.  323 

It  is  quite  obvious  that  I  am  no  lawyer ;  and  I  give  my  opinions 
with  the  more  freedom,  knowing  that  they  will  not  be  quoted  as 
authority.* 

Besides  Smithfield,  markets  for  the  sale  of  live  stock,  botn 
lean  and  fatted,  are  held  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  These 
being  held  in  determined  places,  and  at  established  and  well- 
known  times,  the  farmers  and  others  have  always  an  opportunity 
of  disposing  of  cattle,  for  which  they  wish  to  find  purchasers, 
and  of  obtaining  such  as  they  require  for  keep  or  fattening. 


LIIL  — GRAIN   MARKETS. 

Next  to  the  cattle  markets,  in  England,  the  grain  markets 
deserve  attention.  They  perhaps  should  have  a  higher  place,  as 
the  value  of  the  grain  crop  of  the  country  must  very  much 
exceed  that  of  its  live  stock.     The  amount  of  grain  produced  in 

*  I  might  get  upon  forbidden  ground  if  I  ventured  to  speak  of  chartered  opin- 
ions, and  of  the  variety  of  artificial  and  stringent  contrivances  to  regulate  what 
men  shall  think  in  all  times  to  come.  I  have  my  own  notions  on  these  subjects, 
with  which  I  shall  not  trouble  my  readers,  further  than  to  say  that  I  hold  mental 
slavery  as  the  most  ignominious  of  all  kinds  of  bondage,  and  thank  God,  every 
day  of  my  life,  that  attempts  to  inthral  the  mind  are,  in  the  end,  as  idle  as  to 
attempt  to  chain  the  wind,  convinced  as  I  am  that  all  hopes  of  human  improve- 
ment, and  the  moral  advancement  of  society,  must  depend  upon  the  utterly  free, 
unrestricted,  and  independent  inquiries  of  the  human  mind  after  what  is  good, 
and  useful,  and  true. 

I  trust  I  shall  be  pardoned  these  reflectioas,  which  otherwise  might  seem  inop- 
portune, when  it  is  considered  that,  in  some  respects,  Smithfield  is  classical  and 
consecrated  ground.  I  think  it  was  one  of  the  Oxford  martyrs,  who  said  to  his 
heroic  companion  at  the  stake,  that "  they  should  kindle  such  a  fire  that  day  in 
England,  as  he  trusted  in  God  would  never  be  extinguished."  Such  were  the 
fires  kindled  in  Smithfield,  which,  as  they  were  reflected  from  the  surrounding 
objects,  showed  the  grim,  and  hideous,  and  bloody  features  of  bigotry  and  intol- 
erance, in  all  their  deformity  and  hatefulness,  and  still  send  up  their  light  to 
Heaven,  as  the  signal  of  that  liberty  of  judgment,  opinion,  and  conscience,  which 
constitutes  the  glory  of  the  human  mind,  and  which  every  true  man  should  claim, 
at  any  and  every  peril,  as  his  independent  and  inalienable  birthright. 


324  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

England  is  immense,  as  is  quite  evident  from  the  great  popula- 
tion which  is  fed. 

Kinds  of  Bread.  Maize,  or  Indian  Corn. — In  Scotland, 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  bread  is  made  of  oatmeal.  In 
Ireland,  a  large  portion  of  the  poorer  classes  live  upon  potatoes  ; 
and  many  scarcely  taste  bread  from  one  year's  end  to  another. 
In  some  parts  of  the  country,  meal  from  pease,  and  barley  meal, 
are  mixed  with  a  portion  of  wheat  meal,  and  used  for  bread. 
But  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  use  wheat  bread  exclusively. 
There  is  very  little  or  no  rye  consumed  for  bread.  Indeed,  I 
have  not  known  it  used  in  a  single  instance.  The  poor  are  ex- 
tremely tenacious  of  the  kind  of  bread  which  they  eat ;  and  I  have 
seen,  in  more  instances  than  a  few,  where  the  farmer  was  under  an 
obligation  to  supply  his  laborers  with  wheat  at  a  certain  rate,  and 
Avas  using  wheat  of  an  inferior  quality  for  his  own  table,  and 
sending  the  best  to  market,  the  laborer  insisted  upon  that  of  the 
best  quality,  though  he  might  have  had  an  inferior  quality  at  less 
than  the  stipulated  price.  I  certainly  do  not  deny  their  right  to 
do  this ;  and  I  begrudge  the  poor  none  of  their  small  round  of 
comforts  and  luxuries.  I  wish  they  whose  toil,  under  the 
blessing  of  Heaven,  produces  the  bread,  may  never  want  an 
ample  supply,  and  that  of  the  finest  kind.  As  a  general  rule, 
likewise,  I  believe  it  sound  economy  to  use  the  best  of  every 
thing.  But  I  refer  to  this  fact,  as  showing  to  a  degree,  in  my 
opinion,  the  hopelessness  of  introducing  our  Indian  corn  as  bread 
for  the  English  poor  —  a  scheme  which  many  persons  have  advo- 
cated on  both  sides  of  the  water,  as  reciprocally  advantageous  to 
both  countries.  They  will  not  eat  it.  If  the  rich  should  adopt 
it  as  a  luxury,  (and,  if  they  understood  its  proper  use,  they  would 
with  reason  deem  it  so, )  their  example  or  estimation  of  it  might 
have  its  usual  effect :  but  to  commend  it  to  the  exclusive  use  of 
the  poorer  classes  as  a  cheap  kind  of  bread,  acknowledged 
inferior,  though  it  were  as  sweet  as  the  ancient  manna,  would  be 
met  with  that  pride  of  resentment,  which  any  thing  short  of 
absolute  starvation  would  scarcely  be  able  to  overcome.  With 
Arthur  Young,  I  deem  Indian  corn,  or  maize,  as  among  the  best 
and  most  useful  crops  ever  yielded  by  the  earth.  Nothing 
within  my  knowledge  is  grown  at  so  little  comparative  expense. 


I 


GRAIN  MARKETS  OUT  OF  LONDON.  325 

Nothing  furnishes  by  the  acre  more  nutritious  food  for  man  or 
beast.  Nothing,  as  grain  or  grass,  is  capable  of  more  varied  and 
useful  application.  No  plant  cultivated  returns  more  to  the  land, 
in  manure,  by  way  of  compensation  for  what  it  takes  from  it. 
The  dampness  of  the  English  climate,  the  deficiency  of  sunshine, 
and  in  general  the  coldness  and  heaviness  of  the  English  soil, 
forbid  its  production  here.*  If  it  were  introduced  here  without 
duty,  with  a  view  to  fatting  swine  and  cattle,  there  would  be,  in 
my  belief,  a  clear  gain,  on  the  part  of  the  farmers,  of  the  manure. 
I  am  not  conscious  of  any  interested  views  to  bias  my  judgment 
in  this  matter ;  for,  besides  an  absence  of  all  commercial  interests, 
from  which  my  pursuits  in  life  are  entirely  foreign,  I  think  there 
is  reason  to  believe  that,  if  its  admission  into  England  were  free, 
the  supplies  of  this  article  from  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
would  nearly  preclude  the  competition  of  the  United  States. 


LIV.  — GRAIN   MARKETS   OUT   OF   LONDON. 

Grain  markets  are  established  in  all  the  principal  towns  of  the 
country,  and  are  generally  held  weekly.  In  almost  every  town 
where  a  regular  market  is  held,  there  is  held  a  corn  market, 


*  In  some  few  cases,  where  the  locality  and  the  season  have  been  peculiarly 
favorable,  the  earliest  kinds  have  ripened ;  but  it  cannot  be  depended  on,  and 
any  attempt  to  cultivate  it  on  an  extensive  scale  would  doubtless  prove  a  failure. 
I  am  not  certain  that  it  may  not  succeed  as  a  green  crop  for  fodder.  If  so,  it 
would  be  found  that  no  crop  would  yield  more,  or  more  nutritious  feed  for  stock ; 
or  make  more  milk,  beef,  or  mutton ;  or  furnish  a  better  feed  for  horses.  It  is 
confidently  stated,  upon  authority  which  I  cannot  doubt,  that  it  has  yielded,  in 
New  England,  at  the  rate  of  tliirty-nine  tons  of  green  feed  to  an  acre  ;  and  some 
persons  have  assumed  that  double  this  quantity  can  be  grown.  A  distinguished 
agricultural  friend  here  is  now  making  the  experiment  of  growing  it  for  green 
feed.  We  must  wait  for  the  result.  I  imported  the  seed  for  him ;  but  the  various 
expenses  attending  it  almost  forbid  a  repetition.  The  unfortunate  man,  who  has 
to  run  tlie  gantlet  through  salesmen,  and  freighting  agents,  and  commission 
agents,  and  wharf  agents,  and  carriers,  and  above  all  custom-houses,  finds  himself, 
at  the  end,  much  in  the  situation  of  tlie  man  who  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho ;  but  without  even  a  kind  Samaritan  to  pity  his  destitution,  or  assuage 
his  wounds. 

28 


326  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

although  the  grain  market  is  always  distinct  from  the  general 
market,  sometimes  in  the  same  place  but  at  a  diiFerent  hour,  but, 
in  most  cases,  on  the  same  day  but  in  a  different  place.  All 
grain  here  goes  under  the  general  denomination  of  corn.  In  a 
great  many  towns,  large  and  elegant  halls  are  erected  for  what  is 
called  the  Corn  Exchange,  where  the  farmers,  millers,  corn- 
factors,  and  grain-merchants,  assemble  for  this  particular  object 
exclusively.  In  some  cases,  these  buildings  have  considerable 
pretensions  to  architectural  elegance  ;  and  many  of  them  larger 
pretensions  to  utility  and  convenience,  as  there  are  connected 
with  them  extensive  rooms  and  chambers  for  the  storage  of 
grain. 

1.  Forms  of  Business.  —  The  general  standard  of  measure  is 
a  quarter,  which  consists  of  eight  imperial  bushels,  though  still, 
in  some  markets,  the  reckoning  is  by  loads  of  three  bushels. 
The  markets  are  of  two  kinds,  one  by  sample — the  grain  to  be 
delivered  on  a  future  day ;  the  others  are  in  some  parts  of  the 
country  called  pitch  markets ^  where  the  grain  is  brought  into 
the  market,  and  sold  and  delivered  at  the  same  time.  In  these 
market-houses,  the  factors,  or  sellers  of  grain,  have  their  respec- 
tive stands,  with  the  necessary  appurtenances  of  counting  desk 
and  writing  implements,  and  with  the  various  samples  of  grain 
exhibited  in  boxes  or  bags  before  them.  In  some  markets,  I 
have  found  many  of  the  factors  and  farmers  bringing  their  sam- 
ples of  grain,  in  small  bags,  in  their  hands  and  pockets.  In  most 
cases,  the  markets  are  opened  and  closed  at  fixed  hours,  and  this 
is  notified  by  the  ringing  of  a  bell,  to  which  there  is  universal 
submission.  Such  habits  of  punctuality,  in  the  transaction  of 
business,  are  of  the  highest  importance ;  and  should  there  be 
occasion,  I  beg  leave  strongly  to  commend  them  to  my  own 
countrymen.  The  rules  of  commercial  transactions  cannot,  in 
my  opinion,  be  too  stringent  and  absolute  ;  yet  certainly  nothing 
is  more  loose  and  slovenly  than  the  ordinary  modes  of  transacting 
business  in  my  own  country ;  and  the  necessary  consequence  is, 
a  great  want  of  punctuality,  and  that  dreadful  curse  of  the  com^ 
munity,  angry  and  interminable  litigation.  A  fixed  time  to 
begin  and  to  close  the  market  quickens  both  buyer  and  seller ; 
but  how  often  have  I  seen,  especially  in  the  country,  men  wast- 
ing the  whole  day,  and  chaffering,  hour  after  hour,  with  all  the 


GRAIN  MARKETS  OUT  OF  LONDON.  327 

necessary  amount  of  trickery  and  prevarication,  about  that  which 
might  be  much  better  determined  in  fifteen  minutes ! 

2.  Advantages  and  Convenience  of  such  Markets  in  the 
United  States.  —  The  convenience  of  these  markets,  scattered 
all  over  the  country,  is  very  great.  They  would  be  very  useful 
with  us,  and  I  think  cannot  be  too  soon  established,  especially 
in  our  grain-growing  districts,  such,  for  example,  as  Western  New 
York.  The  farmers  in  this  part  of  the  country  would  certainly 
derive  great  advantages  from  regular  and  quick  sales,  and  from 
the  extended  competition  to  which  such  established  markets 
would  certainly  lead.  Once  a  week,  however,  in  the  same 
district,  would  be  too  often,  as  they  would  be  likely  to  take  the 
farmers  too  much  from  home  ;  and  at  the  breaking  up  of  the 
winter,  when  the  state  of  the  roads  renders  travelling  difficult, 
or  during  the  busiest  season  of  summer,  it  might  be  advisable  to 
suspend  them.  In  any  event,  the  hour  of  opening  and  of  closing 
them  should  be  fixed  and  absolute.  Mutual  agreement  might 
determine  this ;  and  the  custom,  once  established,  would  be  as 
imperative  as  any  laws  on  the  subject.  If  it  should  be  asked 
how  these  markets  might  be  established,  I  think  the  agricultural 
societies  in  the  different  counties  could  easily  arrange  the  matter  ; 
and  that  it  would  be  a  very  useful  object  of  their  attention.  I 
would  advise,  further,  that  a  grain  market,  and  a  cattle  market, 
should  be  always  a  cash  market ;  and  that  all  giving  or  taking 
credit  in  such  cases  should  be  considered  disgraceful  both  to 
buyer  and  seller,  and  entirely  out  of  the  question.  If  bread 
should  not  be  paid  for  in  cash,  what  should  be  ?  I  am  afraid 
my  advice  may  be  deemed  a  work  of  supererogation,  but  it  is 
well  intended;  and  whoever  contributes  in  any  way  to  limit  (I 
am  sensible  the  abolition  is  hopeless)  that  system  of  private 
credit  and  long  accounts,  which  prevails  to  so  great  an  extent  all 
over  the  country,  does  a  public  benefaction.  With  honest  men 
who  mean  to  pay  their  debts,  nothing,  in  the  end,  is  ever  gained 
by  it ;  and  the  frequency  with  w^hich  a  man's  own  integrity  is 
undermined  by  it  is  not  the  least  of  its  evils.  I  am  strongly  of 
the  opinion  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  community  if  there 
were  no  laws  for  the  recovery  of  debts,  excepting  cases  involving 
fraud  either  in  the  act  or  the  representation  ;  and  all  such  in- 
stances  should  be   punished   as   other   crimes.     The  value  of 


328 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


integrity  would  then  be  better  appreciated  ]  economy  in  the 
modes  of  living  would  prevail  much  more ;  and  industry  and 
frugality  would  be  greatly  stimulated. 

3.  Modes  of  Selling.  —  The  sale  by  sample  seems,  on  many 
accounts,  more  eligible  than  by  bringing  the  whole  quantity  at 
once  to  the  market.  The  sample,  in  such  cases,  is  divided 
between  buyer  and  seller,  for  there  should  be  a  guarantee  of 
fair  dealing  on  both  sides,  as,  in  case  of  a  fall  in  price,  the 
purchaser  might  substitute  a  better  sample  than  that  which  he 
had  received,  and  in  this  way  evade  his  engagement.  In  all 
cases,  the  selling  by  sample  is  liable,  however,  to  objections  of 
this  kind,  and  more  especially  as  the  seller  himself  is  likely  to 
separate  from  a  small  sample  what  might  injure  its  appearance  ; 
and  a  small  sample  is  always  likely  to  be  cleaner,  and  appear 
better,  than  a  large  quantity.  One  cannot  say  of  wheat  what 
the  shopkeepers  say  of  their  silks  and  calicoes,  ^'  They  appear 
better  in  the  piece  than  the  pattern."  While  it  is  very  desirable, 
in  all  commercial  transactions,  to  avoid,  as  much  as  possible, 
occasions  of  misunderstanding,  much  must,  after  all,  be  left  to 
personal  integrity,  and  that  sense  of  honor  and  right  which 
commerciaj  men  would  find  it  for  their  interest  to  guard  with  as 
much  tenacity  as  they  would  their  lives.  But  alas !  if  com- 
mercial transactions  were  so  exact  and  explicit  as  to  be  incapable 
of  misconstruction  or  evasion,  and  men  were  always  under  the 
influence  of  a  strict  principle  of  integrity  and  justice,  what  would 
become  of  the  lawyers,  the  paid  moral  police  and  the  strict 
guardians  of  justice  always  on  one  side  ?  Many  of  them  would 
make  very  good  farmers,  —  a  transmutation  from  which,  in  some 
cases,  the  community  might  suifer  no  inconvenience. 

Where  grain  is  sold  in  quantity,  or  by  the  load,  and  delivered 
at  the  time  of  sale,  these  occasions  of  misunderstanding  are 
avoided,  and  the  whole  business  is  concluded  at  once.  The 
farmer  leaves  his  corn  and  takes  home  his  money;  and  any 
anxiety  respecting  the  rise  or  fall  of  the  market,  and  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  engagement,  coupled  as  it  may  be  with  the  usual 
contingencies  of  the  future,  is  prevented.  But  the  farmer  or 
seller  is  placed  somewhat  at  the  mercy  of  the  buyer,  when,  as 
the  close  of  the  market  approaches,  he  finds  himself  with  a  load 
of  grain,  which  he  must  either  sell,  or  carry  back,  or  store,  if  it 


GRAIN  MARKETS  OUT  OF  LONDON.  329 

be  practicable,  at  considerable  trouble  and  expense.  In  large 
markets,  however,  where  the  sellers  are  numerous,  and  compe- 
tition's in  proportion,  the  prices  become  soon  settled  by  common 
consent ;  and  the  seller  may  calculate,  if  he  does  not,  through 
timidity  or  greediness,  overstay  his  time,  upon  getting  the  current 
price,  if  the  quality  of  his  grain  justifies  it.  "  The  tide,  if  taken 
at  the  flood,"  to  borrow  the  simile  of  a  great  authority,  '^  leads 
on  to  fortune ;  "  but  with  those  who  neglect  the  opportunity, 
the  ebbing  tide  often  leaves  the  vessel  stranded,  high  and  dry 
upon  the  shore. 

4.  Multiplication  of  Markets  in  England.  —  There  are 
circumstances  of  difference,  in  the  condition  of  things  here,  and 
in  the  United  States,  which  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to 
remark  upon,  as  a  special  reason  why  the  grain  markets  prevail 
all  over  the  country.  Here  there  is  an  immense  population  to 
be  fed,  scattered  every  where  ;  and  there  are  many  more,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  whole  number,  who  are  buyers  of  bread  than  with 
us.  The  manufacturing  villages  are  crowded  with  a  population 
who  are  to  be  fed  by  other  hands  than  their  own.  The  villages 
and  small  towns  are  full  of  tradespeople,  mechanics,  and  profes- 
sional men,  who  are  to  be  supplied  with  bread.  The  laboring 
agricultural  population,  too,  are  buyers  of  bread.  With  us,  every 
farmer  raises  liis  own  bread,  and  feeds  his  laborers  in  his  own 
house.  With  us,  there  are  comparati*vely  few  married  laborers 
employed  at  all,  and  of  those,  there  are  scarcely  any  who  have 
not  small  farms  of  their  own,  on  which  they  raise  their  own 
bread,  and  commonly  much  more.  Here  the  laboring  popula- 
tion, excepting  in  the  case  of  some  small  allotments,  grow  no 
bread  for  themselves ;  and  the  expense  of  fuel  is  so  great,  like- 
wise, that  they  depend  upon  public  bakers,  rather  than  bake 
their  own  bread.  In  consequence  of  this,  markets  are  held  at  all 
the  principal  towns,  where  the  millers  and  bakers  supply  them- 
selves. Purchases  are  made,  likewise,  in  these  markets,  for  the 
supply  of  London,  where  the  facility  of  carriage  allows  its 
being  sent. 

28* 


330  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


LV.— THE  CORN  EXCHANGE  IN  MARK  LANE,  LONDON. 

The  supply  of  London  itself  is  an  immense  affair.  The  or- 
dinary population  of  this  mammoth  city  is  estimated  at  about 
1,800,000;  and  during  the  session  of  Parliament,  in  what  is 
technically  called  ''  the  season,"  when  the  legislature  may  be  said 
to  be  in  full  blast,  all  the  places  of  public  amusement  opened, 
and  the  court  in  the  plenitude  of  its  luxuries,  it  is  supposed  that 
the  population  of  London  does  not  fall  much  short  of  2,500,000. 
Nothing  impresses  a  reflecting  mind  with  more  force,  than  the 
consideration  how  such  vast  numbers  of  people,  all  of  whom  are 
consumers,  are  to  be  fed.  Yet  they  are  fed,  and  the  cases  of 
want  and  starvation  do  not  arise  from  any  deficiency  in  the 
supply  of  bread,  of  which  there  seems  always  enough  and  to 
spare. 

*'  The  total  importation  of  corn  and  grain  of  all  kinds  into 
London  averages,  at  the  present  time,  about  28,000,000  bushels 
annually,  besides  about  50,000  tons  of  flour  and  meal  —  the 
weight  being  at  least  530,000  tons."  The  Corn  Exchange,  in 
Mark  Lane,  is  the  great  place  of  trade  in  corn  and  flour,  and  in 
all  kinds  of  grain  and  pulse.  There  are  two  spacious  buildings 
adjoining  each  other  for  the  transaction  of  business  and  the 
exhibition  of  samples,  and  the  market  is  holden  three  times  a 
week,  —  on  Monday,  Wednesday,  and  Friday,  —  Monday  being 
the  principal  market-day.  The  business  done  here  is  immense  in 
home-grown  and  in  foreign  grain. 


LVL  — CORN   DUTIES. 

Grain  is  not  admitted  into  England  from  foreign  ports,  Canada 
excepted,  free  of  duty,  excepting  when  the  price  reaches  its 
maximum.  The  highest  duty,  of  20  shillings  per  quarter,  is 
paid  when  the  price  is  50  shillings  per  quarter,  and  the  scale  of 
duties  is  a  descending  scale,  in  certain  determinate  proportions. 


CORN    DUTIES.  331 

until  the  price  reaches  80  shillings  per  quarter,  when  it  is  ad- 
mitted free  of  duty.  In  consequence  of  these  regulations,  large 
amounts  of  foreign  grain  are  stored  in  warehouses,  waiting  for 
admission,  when,  by  the  variations  of  the  market,  the  duties  are 
at  the  lowest.  The  amount  of  duty  payable  on  the  introduction 
of  foreign  wheat  being  regulated  by  the  current  price  of  wheat, 
it  becomes  obviously  of  the  highest  consequence  to  determine 
what  is  the  current  price  of  wheat,  since  this  price  has  no 
reference  to  the  cost  of  the  wheat,  and,  as  is  plain,  the  price  may 
vary  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom.  With  a  view  to  deter- 
mine this,  returns  are  received  weekly,  at  one  of  the  government 
offices  in  London,  from  the  different  counties  in  England  and 
Wales,  comprising  reports  of  the  sales  in  two  hundred  and 
ninety-two  market-towns,  designated  by  law,  upon  which  the 
price  is  averaged,  and  by  this  the  duty  is  regulated  for  six  weeks 
at  a  time  ;  the  current  price,  with  the  duty  payable,  being  an- 
nounced in  the  public  papers,  by  authority  of  the  government. 
This  variation  of  the  duties  is  called  the  "  sliding  scale,"  and 
has  been  the  cause  of  much  warm  political  controversy. 

The  whole  subject  of  restrictive  duties  is  now  constantly 
before  the  public  mind;  and  while  it  will  not  be  denied  that 
there  are  interested  partisans  on  both  sides,  who  have  only  some 
private  and  personal  ends  in  view,  it  can  as  little  be  doubted  that 
there  is  a  fair  proportion,  on  both  sides,  of  men  of  intelligence, 
honor,  and  integrity,  who,  in  the  measures  which  they  advocate, 
are  governed  wholly  by  their  convictions  of  what  is  due  to  great 
and  valuable  interests,  concerned  in  the  question,  and  of  what 
they  deem  best  for  the  country.  I  know  how  difficult  it  is  to 
acknowledge  this  ;  how  easy  it  is  to  impute  corrupt  moti\res  to 
even  the  purest  minds ;  and  how  our  own  views  may  be  affected 
by  circumstances,  of  whose  influence  we  are  not  aware,  but 
which  are  certain  seriously  to  bias  our  judgment.  Men  who 
think  that  the  corn  laws  should  be  abrogated,  and  those  who 
think  that  they  should  be  maintained,  may  be  equally  honest  and 
equally  patriotic ;  but  nothing  can  be  more  disgraceful  and  un- 
worthy of  an  intelligent  and  honorable  mind  than  that  bigotry  and 
intolerance,  which  would  stifle  inquiry  on  any  subject  of  public 
interest ;  which  would  prevent  the  free  utterance  of  an  honest 
judgment,  and  impute  sinister  intentions  or  interests  for  any 
difference  of  opinion.     It  is  to  be  regretted  that  examples  of  this 


332  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

intolerance,  both  in  respect  to  politics  and  religion,  are  not  wanting 
on  both  sides  of  the  water.  One  is  almost  discouraged  to  per- 
ceive, in  many  cases,  that  the  only  adv^ance  made  upon  the  intol- 
erant and  ferocious  spirit  of  the  dark  ages,  is  the  immunity  from 
personal  violence  and  suffering.  Men  are  not  now,  for  their 
religious  or  political  convictions,  burned  at  the  stake  ,*  but  to  a 
sensitive  mind,  a  penalty  scarcely  less  bitter  is  often  adminis- 
tered, in  the  opprobrium  which  follows  the  profession  of  unpop- 
ular opinions.  The  tiger,  though  muzzled,  still  growls,  and 
beats  the  bars  of  his  cage  with  his  tail,  showing  what  he  would 
do  if  he  could.  It  is  a  singular  and  instructive  fact,  that  formerly 
it  was  the  great  aim  of  the  municipal  and  the  national  govern- 
"iient  to  keep  down  the  price  of  bread,  but  that  the  present 
policy  of  the  government  is  to  keep  it  up.  Two  centuries  and 
I  half  ago,  the  city  itself  provided  large  stores  of  grain,  imported 
from  the  Continent,  and  even  established  and  maintained  several 
public  ovens,  in  order  to  prevent  a  scarcity  of  wheat,  and  to  save 
the  poor  from  suffering  by  a  high  price,  consequent  upon  a  defi- 
cient supply.  The  several  livery  companies  of  London  were 
required  by  law  to  have  several  thousand  quarters  of  grain  always 
on  hand,  for  the  same  object.  It  contrasts  strongly  with  such 
provisions,  that,  a  few  years  ago,  two  thousand  quarters  of  wheat, 
that  is,  sixteen  thousand  bushels,  were  thrown  into  the  river, 
because  the  owners  would  not  pay  the  duties  or  keep  it  longer, 
subject  to  expenses  of  storage  and  port  charges.  Whether  the 
policy  of  the  present  day  is  an  improvement  upon  the  wisdom 
and  good  government  of  former  times,  I  shall  leave  to  the  calm 
judgment  of  my  readers  ;  but  such  a  fact  as  that  detailed  above, 
occurring  where  so  many  thousands  are  constantly  suffering,  and 
many  dying  by  slow  degrees,  from  a  deficiency  of  food,  can 
hardly  fail  to  bring  a  cold  chill  over  a  man  of  common  sensibility, 
though  he  be  cased  in  the  triple  brass  of  the  most  orthodox 
school  of  political  economy,  and  seems  such  a  resentment  and 
defiance  of  the  goodness  of  Heaven,  that  one  can  scarcely  trust 
himself  to  speak  of  it. 

1.  Arguments  for  Protection.  —  The  protectionists,  who 
are  opposed  to  the  introduction  of  foreign  grain,  maintain  that  a 
free  competition  in  their  own  market  by  supplies  from  abroad 
would  so  reduce  the  price  of  grain  as  to  render  its  cultivation  not 


CORN    DUTIES.  333 

merely  profitless,  but  ruinous ;  and  that  the  result  would  be  to 
throw  much  land  out  of  cultivation,  and  consequently  deprive 
the  laborer  of  his  present  resources ;  and  though  the  price  of 
bread  were  reduced,  yet  such  would  be  the  scarcity  of  employ- 
ment, and  the  reduction  of  his  wages,  that  he  would  be  without 
the  means  of  paying  even  a  reduced  price. 

2.  Arguments  against  Protection.  —  The  opponents  of 
restrictions  in  the  introduction  of  foreign  grain  maintain,  on  the 
other  hand,  that,  from  the  necessities  of  the  case,  the  land  Avill 
continue  to  be  cultivated  ;  that  the  introduction  of  foreign  grain 
will  induce  the  farmer  to  cultivate  more  land,  to  introduce  im- 
provements in  cultivation,  to  bring  into  a  productive  condition 
much  land  which  is  now  waste  and  profitless,  and  thus  increas- 
ing the  amount  of  his  crops  by  a  more  skilful  cultivation,  this 
excess  will  be  very  much  more  than  an  equivalent  for  any 
diminution  of  price.  The  saving  of  the  expenses  of  transporta- 
tion, incident  to  the  importation  of  grain  from  abroad,  must  be 
considered,  in  its  very  nature,  as  virtually  a  considerable  protec- 
tion to  the  English  farmer. 

I  do  not  deem  it  necessary  further  to  discuss  this  great  ques- 
tion. It  does  not  appear  probable  to  me  that,  even  if  the  ports 
were  thrown  open,  much  larger  amounts  would  come  in  than 
what  are  now  brought ;  and  one  effect  is  certain  —  that  of  increas- 
ing the  price  of  wheat  in  the  exporting  countries.  If  more 
wheat  is  cultivated  in  foreign  countries  for  exportation,  then  it 
must  be  obtained  from  territories  more  distant  than  those  from 
which  it  is  now  brought,  and  the  expense  of  transportation 
would  be  proportionately  increased.  The  production  of  wheat 
would  be  in  no  case,  as  many  persons  seem  to  imagine,  without 
limit.  The  United  States  have  vast  markets  growing  up  among 
themselves  for  the  consumption  of  their  surplus  products  ;  and  in 
a  free  trade,  the  wheat  from  the  United  States  must  come  into 
severe  competition  with  the  continental  wheats.  Every  one 
must  see  that  the  financial  bearings  of  the  question  are  quite 
complicated  ;  and  imder  such  a  change  in  the  policy  of  the 
country  as  the  abrogation  of  all  duties  or  restrictions,  many  new 
circumstances  would  spring  up  to  affect  the  results,  little  thought 
of  by  even  the  shrewdest  calculators.  How  limited  is  human 
prescience  !  and  what  countless  and  complex  influences  are  con- 


334  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

tinually  intermingling  themselves  in  the  affairs  of  nations,  as 
well  as  of  individuals,  which  defy  equally  man's  sagacity  to 
understand,  and  his  power  to  control ! 

3.  Moral  Views  of  the  Question.  —  Having  stated,  with 
what  impartiality  I  am  able,  the  principal  commercial  and 
financial  arguments  in  the  case,  on  both  sides,  I  feel  that  there 
are  views  of  this  subject,  of  a  moral  character,  to  which  I  may 
without  impropriety  refer.  The  question  is  considered  by  many 
as  a  great  question  of  humanity,  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  look 
at  in  the  light  of  a  calm  philosophy,  if  I  may  make  any  preten- 
sions —  and  I  am  certain  they  must  be  of  the  most  humble  char- 
acter —  to  such  a  lofty  gift.  I  hope  my  readers,  even  among  the 
parties  most  deeply  interested,  will  approach  it  in  the  same  spirit. 
I  believe,  from  my  personal  knowledge  of  many  of  them,  that 
there  is  as  ample  a  share  of  real  benevolence  for  the  poor,  among 
the  advocates  of  the  corn  laws,  as  among  their  opponents ;  and 
men  of  this  high  character  will  listen  with  patience  and  with 
eagerness  to  any  discussions  of  the  subject  which  may  serve  to 
correct  wrong  impressions,  if  wrong  impressions  exist,  or  to  make 
the  path  of  duty  more  plain,  if  at  present  it  is  in  any  degree  mis- 
understood or  overshadowed. 

4.  Patriotism  and  Philanthropy.  —  It  may  be  supposed 
that,  as  the  citizen  of  a  comparatively  young  and  growing 
country,  anxious  to  extend  its  profitable  commercial  relations 
in  all  directions,  and  spurred  on  with  an  eager  and  breathless 
avarice,  —  stimulated,  by  an  enterprise  every  where  left  free  to  be 
exerted,  and  by  natural  and  social  advantages  of  an  extraordinary 
character,  to  enrich  itself  by  the  wide  disposal  of  the  products  of 
its  industry  and  its  virgin  soil,  —  I  should  be  most  anxious  for  the 
admission  of  these  products  into  England  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances,  and  should  be  the  strenuous  advocate  of 
free  trade,  certainly  on  the  English  side  of  the  water,  which  is 
about  as  far  as  any  man's  impartiality  may  be  expected  to  go. 
I  plead  guilty  to  a  strong  attachment  to  my  own  country,  and  a 
most  ardent  desire  for  her  prosperity  ;  neither  of  which  senti- 
ments has  suffered  the  slightest  abatement  by  my  protracted 
absence,  and  my  familiarity  with  other  countries  and  other 
institutions.     But  I  am  not  conscious  of  any  interested   views 


CORN    DUTIES.  335 

which  should  unduly  bias  my  judgment  in  this  case  j  and  I  will 
assert,  in  all  the  strength  of  the  most  heartfelt  conviction,  that  I 
regard  patriotism  as  a  very  mean  virtue  compared  with  philan- 
thropy, and  that  the  mere  interests  of  trade  are  to  be  trampled 
under  foot  with  scorn  and  disdain  whenever  they  conflict  with 
the  interests  of  humanity.  I  know  very  well  that  they  are 
oftentimes  coincident.  Some  time  ago,  in  the  United  States,  at 
a  public  celebration,  where  I  am  aware  that  sentiments  occa- 
sionally get  a  little  colored  by  the  wine  in  which  they  are 
drank,  a  distinguished  public  character  gave,  as  a  toast,  "  Our 
country !  "  which  would  have  been  very  well  had  he  stopped 
there,  and  I  should  have  had  no  objection  to  emptying  my  glass, 
if  that  had  been  necessary  to  sanction  it ;  but  when  he  added, 
''  Our  country,  right  or  wrong  !  "  I  regarded  the  sentiment  with 
inexpressible  detestation,  to  which  the  wine,  if  I  had  drank  it, 
would  only  have  added  intensity.  Some  apology  may  be  made 
for  him  as  a  military  man ;  for  what  has  a  military  man  to  do 
with  right  or  wrong  ?  His  duty  is  only  to  obey  orders ;  and,  as 
a  facetious  divine  said  in  another  case,  he  has  neither  the  trouble 
nor  expense  of  keeping  a  conscience. 

5.  Proper  Ends  of  National  Policy.  —  When,  under  the 
blessing  of  Heaven,  will  mankind  cease  to  estimate  the  pros- 
perity of  individuals  or  nations  by  a  mere  pecuniary  standard  ? 
When  will  they  learn  that  the  true  glory  of  a  nation  is  the  glory 
of  justice  and  humanity,  and  that  the  only  legitimate  and 
worthy  objects  of  a  good  government  are,  — not  the  mere  accu- 
mulation of  wealth,  the  triumphs  of  military  ambition,  the  exten- 
sion of  territory,  the  multiplication  of  pageants  and  of  luxuries, 
the  intrenching  of  power  already  too  arbitrary  and  despotic  in 
its  exactions,  the  higher  elevation  of  ranks  already  too  high  for 
sympathy  with  the  wants,  and  suflerings,  and  privations,  of  the 
depressed  and  low, —but  the  far  nobler  purposes  of  giving  to  all 
the  opportunity  and  the  means  of  exerting  an  honest  industry, 
and  an  ample  share,  and  a  perfect  security  in  the  enjoyment,  of  the 
fruits  of  that  industry  ;  allowing  no  individual  to  be  above  the 
reach  of  that  law  which  inflicts  its  penalties  upon  the  most 
humble  and  down-trodden,  and  suffering  no  person  to  pine  in 
obscurity,  uncared  for  and  unpitied ;  but,  in  the  exercise  of  an 
exact  and  impartial  justice,  seeking  to  protect  the  defenceless,  to 


336  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

succor  the  oppressed,  to  raise  the  fallen ;  by  a  wise  education, 
and  a  paternal  care,  to  inspire  even  the  lowliest  with  the  enno- 
bling consciousness  of  his  own  moral  and  immortal  nature  ;  and, 
ill  the  spirit  of  true  Christismity,  to  regard  all  men  as  one  family, 
and  to  seek  to  impart  to  every  man,  without  stint  or  abatement, 
his  full  share  of  all  the  advantages  and  all  the  goods  which  God, 
when  he  made  men  for  each  other,  and  endowed  them  with 
human  sympathies,  designed  that  they  should  find  in  the  social 
state  ?  —  When,  indeed,  are  these  celestial  visions  of  philan- 
thropy to  be  realized  ?  when  is  the  bleeding  victim  to  be  plucked 
from  the  jaws  of  an  unrelenting  avarice  ?  when  is  the  imprisoned 
bird  to  be  let  free  to  breathe  the  clear  air  of  heaven,  and  pom- 
out  his  songs  of  ecstasy  upon  the  floating  breeze  ?  when  is  hu- 
manity —  in  too  many  cases  oppressed,  degraded,  plundered  —  to 
be  allowed  to  stand  erect  in  the  conscious  dignity  of  freedom  and 
of  manhood  ? 

6.  Bread  regarded  in  a  peculiar  Light.  —  In  civilized 
states,  bread  has  always  been  considered  in  a  different  light  from 
almost  any  thing  else,  and  has  been  the  subject  of  special  regu- 
lations. For  many  years,  speculators  in  grain  were  looked  upon 
with  peculiar  suspicion  and  odium,  and  were  the  subjects  of  par- 
ticular legal  restrictions.  They  were  considered  as  the  creators 
of  scarcity,  by  their  hoarding  up  large  stores  of  corn  ;  whereas,  in 
fact,  it  was  through  their  providence  that  these  times  of  suffering 
were  anticipated  and  mitigated,  or  avoided.  They  are  not  disin- 
terested, but  are  as  useful  and  important  as  any  class  of  persons, 
employed  as  agents  in  any  branch  of  trade.  They  are  most  use- 
ful in  enabling  the  grower  of  grain  to  dispose  of  it  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage ;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  how  a  large  community 
could  be  supplied  without  them;  as  if,  for  example,  London 
itself  were  left  to  the  precarious  supply  of  individual  farmers. 
They  perform,  indeed,  a  most  essential  and  important  service,  and 
are  entitled  to  a  fair  remuneration.  The  indispensable  impor- 
tance of  a  character  for  fair  dealing,  and  the  competition  to  which 
they  are  exposed,  are  securities  against  that  compensation  being 
excessive.  As  speculators  in  grain  were  regarded  with  peculiar 
vigilance,  so  were  bakers,  and  so  are  they  still,  held  to  a  strict 
responsibility,  and  the  weight  of  their  loaves  subjected  to  an 
assize.     In  Turkey,  a  baker  giving  light  weight  is  nailed  by  the 


CORN    DUTIES.  337 

eax  to  his  shop  door  —  a  most  awkward  position,  certainly,  to  be 
placed  in,  and  sufficiently  admonitory. 

The  corn  laws  are  regarded  by  some  persons  with  a  sentiment 
of  similar  distrust  or  dislike.  They  are  considered  as  a  tax 
upon  the  bread  of  the  poor,  or  a  reduction  of  the  size  of  their 
loaf,  to  which  they  ought  not  to  be  subjected.  The  effect  of 
the  duty  upon  corn  is  obviously  to  increase  the  price  of  bread, 
as  the  abrogation  of  the  duty  would  be  to  lessen  its  price,  or 
otherwise  it  would  be  of  no  importance  whatever.  In  two 
respects,  bread  differs  from  other  articles  which  man  wants  or 
desires.  In  the  first  place,  its  supply  is  indispensable  to  human 
subsistence  ;  in  the  second  place,  though  to  a  degree  the  product 
of  human  industry,  its  production  is  not  controllable  at  human 
pleasure.  Of  other  articles,  in  regard  to  which  man's  only 
province  is  to  work  up  the  raw  materials,  he  may  manufacture  a 
large  or  small  quantity,  at  his  will.  In  respect  to  bread,  man 
can  only  sow  the  seed,  and  then  wait  with  humble  hope  for 
that  blessing,  "which  shall  give  the  increase."  These  circum- 
stances have  undoubtedly  had  their  influence  on  the  exertions 
which  have  been  made  every  where  to  prevent  a  monopoly  of 
bread,  and  to  keep  it,  as  far  as  possible,  within  the  reach  of  the 
most  destitute. 

7.  Peculiar  Condition  of  the  English  laboring  Popula- 
tion. —  But  there  are  circumstances,  connected  with  the  condi- 
tion of  English  society,  which  give  peculiar  severity  to  these 
laws.  A  large  portion  of  the  laboring  population  depend  wholly 
upon  their  labor  from  day  to  day,  for  a  supply.  If  wages  were 
paid  in  kind,  the  price  of  bread  would  not  so  much  affect  the 
laborer.  If  wages  rose  or  fell  with  the  price  of  bread,  the  case 
would  be  different  from  what  it  is.  But  this  is  not  the  case  ; 
labor  is  superabundant ;  the  competition  for  employment  is 
severe ;  and  constant  employment  difficult  to  be  procured. 
Land,  for  the  purpose  of  growing  bread  for  themselves,  is  a 
matter  wholly  beyond  the  reach  of  the  greater  part  of  the  labor- 
ing population.  They  might  as  well  think  of  getting  posses- 
sions in  the  moon.  The  soil  is  locked  up  in  comparatively  few 
hands.  It  is  stated  confidently  that,  from  the  3^ear  1775  to  the 
year  1815,  the  number  of  landed  proprietors  in  England  was 
reduced  from  240,000  to  30,000,  and  that  the  process  of  absorp- 
29 


338  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

tion  has  been  continually  going  on  from  that  to  the  present  time. 
Labor  here,  then,  is  wholly  dependent  upon  capital.  Emigra- 
tion, from  the  insular  character  of  the  country,  is  extremely  dif- 
ficult, and  not  as  in  the  United  States,  where  a  man  has  only  to 
take  his  axe  upon  his  shoulder,  and  find  for  himself  a  home. 
Though  the  price  of  bread,  therefore,  should  increase,  the  rate  of 
wages  would  not  be  aifected  ;  the  laborer  would  get  no  more  ; 
and,  from  the  advance  in  the  price  of  that  which  is  indispen- 
sable to  his  subsistence,  his  wages  would  virtually  become  of 
ld"ss  value,  though  the  nominal  amount  remained  the  same.  Add 
to  this,  that  the  increase  of  the  population  of  Great  Britain  is 
going  on  at  a  rapid  rate,  the  increase  for  the  last  year,  as 
stated  upon  the  highest  authority,  being  no  less  than  380,000. 
These  considerations,  as  connected  with  this  subject,  cannot  fail 
to  have  their  weight  upon  reflecting  and  benevolent  minds. 
Whether  any  restraint,  therefore,  should  be  put  upon  the  supply 
of  food  to  the  people,  is  a  matter  which  I  submit  to  the  opinion 
of  those  whom  it  concerns. 

If  "  property  has  its  rights,  it  has  also  its  duties,"  and  those 
of  a  most  responsible  character.  The  condition  of  the  laborer 
is  sufficiently  striking.  His  labor  creates  the  product,  but  this 
product  passes  immediately  into  other  hands ;  sometimes  into 
the  hands  of  those  whose  skill,  and  care,  and  enterprise,  com- 
bined with  his  labor,  did  their  full  share  in  the  creation  of  this 
product,  but  often  into  the  hands  of  persons  Avho  produce 
nothing,  and  live  only  to  consume  and  to  enjoy.  He  must  be 
satisfied  if  a  very  small  portion  of  it  is  returned  to  him  by  way 
of  compensation  for  his  toil ;  but  it  would  seem  at  first  blush  a 
hard  case,  if  even  a  portion  of  this  must  be  abstracted  in  its 
progress  to  him,  or  otherwise  he  will  not  be  allowed  the  oppor- 
tunity of  laboring  at  all.  Our  horses  and  oxen  are  well  fed 
and  cared  for,  in  proportion  to  the  labor  which  they  are  com- 
pelled to  perform.  What  should  we  say  of  the  man  who  refused 
them  this  ?  But  alas  for  the  poor  men  !  I  have  seen  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  the  laborers,  who,  after  a  most  scanty  breakfast, 
in  the  midst  of  their  labors,  sometimes  severe  and  always  unre- 
mitting, had  nothing  for  their  dinner  but  a  bit  of  dry  bread  and 
a  draught  of  water,  and  who  would  return  at  night,  when  the 
toil  of  the  day  was  over,  to  a  supper  as  scanty.  Even  the  in- 
ferior butter  is  not  suffered  to  reach  them,  but  is  mixed  with  tar 


CORN    DUTIES.  33^' 

at  the  custom-housej  that  it  may  be  destroyed  as  human  food. 
What  an  extraordinary  fact  this  is  !  In  one  of  the  great  brew- 
eries in  London,  where,  I  think,  forty  of  the  magnificent  London 
horses  are  kept,  they  are  worked  but  six  years,  and  are  then  sent 
into  the  country  to  enjoy  rest  and  comfort  the  remainder  of 
their  lives.  What  an  enviable  condition  is  this  compared  with 
that  of  many  of  the  human  laborers,  in  a  country  enriched  by 
their  toil,  and  flooded  with  a  wealth  unknown  before  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  I  should  do  the  greatest  wrong  if  I  did 
not  say,  however,  that  there  are  many  bright  examples  of  a 
justice  and  humanity  towards  those  by  whose  toil  they  live,  of 
the  noblest  character  —  a  conduct  which  is  sure  to  be  followed 
by  its  appropriate  reward ;  and  that  the  evils  are  deplored  by 
many  more,  who  have  not  the  sagacity  to  discern,  nor  the  power 
to  apply,  a  remedy.  But  the  condition  which  I  have  described 
is  but  too  common,  and  must  afford  a  most  instructive  lesson  to 
the  laboring  portion  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

8.  Excess  of  Population.  —  The  constant  complaint  here 
is,  that  there  are  too  many  people.  This  is  an  extraordinary 
complaint,  while  there  are  several  millions  of  acres  of  productive 
lands  lying  waste  and  uncultivated.  But  what  is  *'  the  preven- 
tive check  "  ?  Poverty  and  hunger  are  not  found  effectual.  It  is 
an  extraordinary  remedy  adopted  at  Manchester,  where,  accord- 
ing to  the  returns,  seventy-six  out  of  every  hundred  of  the 
children  born  die  before  the  usual  age  of  weaning,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  whom  are  dosed  out  of  existence  by  the  excessive  use 
of  opiates.  Such  a  mode  of  disposing  of  a  surplus  population  is 
certainly  as  little  to  be  commended  as  Defoe's  Short  Method  loith 
the  Dissenters,  advising  to  hang  them  all !  A  valued  friend 
of  mine,  a  celibate,  and  so  likely  to  continue,  whose  great 
passion  is  statistical  science,  very  gravely  asserts,  that  if  men 
and  women  would  not  marry  until  they  were  twenty-seven 
years  old,  there  would  be  no  surplus  population.  The  only 
reply  to  be  made  to  such  practical  theories,  is  in  the  words  of 
the  old  proverb,  "  When  the  sky  falls,  we  shall  catch  larks ;  "  and 
it  would  not  be  surprising  to  find  such  a  man  as  gravely  recom- 
mending the  old  method  of  catching  birds,  by  putting  salt  upon 
their  tails.  I  was  one  day,  in  London,  importuned  for  charity,  by 
a  healthy-looking  woman  with  a  young  infant  upon  her  arms ; 


340  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

and  it  is  not  at  all  uncommon  to  find  them  with  two,  often,  no 
doubt,  hired  for  the  occasion.  "  Why,"  said  I,  ''do  you  beg  ? 
Why  do  you  not  work  ? "  ''  Because,"  said  she,  "  I  can  get 
no  employment."  "  But,"  said  I,  ''  if  you  have  no  means  of  sup- 
porting them,  why  do  you  have  children  ?  "  "  Six,"  said  she, 
with  a  simplicity  which  was  irresistible,  "Providence  sends 
them."  It  would  have  been  much  more  true  had  she  said, 
improvidence ;  but  it  was  evident  she  was  no  adept  in  the 
Malthusian  school.  Children,  then,  will  be  born  into  the  world. 
The  improvement  of  the  lower  classes  by  education,  the  general 
elevation  of  the  standard  of  living,  the  increase  of  what  may  be 
termed  the  artificial  wants  of  life,  and  the  influence  of  the  higher 
class  of  religious  and  moral  considerations,  giving  a  deeper  con- 
viction of  responsibility,  and  rendering  the  domestic  affections 
more  elevated,  and  the  social  interests  and  the  parental  relations 
more  sacred,  as  far  as  they  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
mind,  are  among  the  only  certain  remedies  for  this  improvi- 
dence. These  considerations,  however,  can  only  be  expected  to 
have  their  proper  influence  where  the  mind  is  in  some  measure 
prepared  for  them  by  a  rational  and  virtuous  education.  But  it 
is  in  no  case  a  sufficient  reason  for  subjecting  the  poorer  classes 
to  any  new  hardship  or  privation,  to  say  that  there  are  too  many 
people ;  because  there  are  other  questions,  which  inevitably  arise 
in  the  case,  to  which  a  reply  might  not  be  very  easy  ;  —  namely, 
Who  is  here  who  has  no  right  to  be  here  ?  and,  Whose  duty  is  it 
to  retire  ?  or.  Who  should  be  put  out  ?  I  do  not  say  that  society 
is  bound  to  support  gratuitously  any  man,  other  than  such  as  by 
the  providence  of  God  are  made  incapable  of  providing  for  them- 
selves. Here  the  obligation  is  imperative.  I  hold  the  obliga- 
tion on  society  to  be  equally  imperative  to  afford  to  every  man, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  opportunity,  by  his  own  honest  labor,  of 
providing  for  himself  and  those  whom  the  divine  Providence 
has  cast  upon  his  care.  Now,  wherever  the  appropriation  of  the 
soil,  or  the  institutions  of  society,  are  such  as  to  deprive  a  man 
of  this  power,  or  to  prevent  him  the  opportunity  of  its  exertion 
where  otherwise  he  would  use  it,  it  would  seem,  without  the 
most  cogent  reasons,  a  measure  of  great  severity  to  live  upon  his 
labor,  and  to  take  even  from  the  small  pittance  which  enables 
him  to  render  that  labor  ;  to  see  him  reduced  to  the  borders  of 
starvation,  and  then  to  demand  a  piece  of  his  last  crust.     I  do 


MODE    OF    ADJUSTING    LABOR    AND    WAGES.  341 

not  speak  of  motives  in  this  case  at  all,  but  only  of  what  seems 
to  some  minds  to  be  the  tendency  or  character  of  certain  meas- 
ures. I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  prevalent  want  of  compassion 
among  the  strongest  advocates  of  restriction,  or  any  disposition 
to  drive  the  laborers  to  the  wall.  Indeed,  I  shall  utter  "Only  my 
honest  conviction,  founded  upon  the  closest  personal  observation, 
that  the  laborers  of  England  have  no  warmer  friend  than  in  the 
public-spirited  nobleman  *  who  has  taken  the  lead  in  the  pro- 
tection societies ;  and  this  likewise  applies,  as  I  well  know,  to 
many  associated  with  him.  No  man  in  England  is  surrounded 
with  more  contented  and  attached  laborers.  But  we  cannot  all 
see  the  same  subject  in  the  same  light ;  and  while  nothing  is 
easier  or  more  congenial  to  a  mean  temper,  nothing  is  more 
foreign  from  a  generous  and  honorable  mind,  than  the  imputa- 
tion of  mean  or  unworthy  motives  to  those  whose  opinions  or 
measures  differ  from  our  own. 

I  have  spoken  thus  at  large,  and  given,  as  well  as  I  am  able, 
the  opinions  prevalent  with  different  persons  on  the  great  subject 
of  the  corn  laws  —  first,  because  it  is  intimately  connected  with 
the  agricultural  condition  of  England  ;  and  next,  because  I 
know  the  strong  interest  which  is  taken  in  the  subject  in  the 
United  States.  It  certainly  is  not  for  us  to  complain  of  the 
restrictive  laws  of  England.  I  give  no  opinion  as  to  the  policy 
or  impolicy  of  such  restrictions  on  either  side  ;  but,  while  we 
barricade  our  own  doors,  we  cannot,  with  a  very  good  grace, 
require  of  others  to  leave  theirs  open. 


LVII.  —  MODE  OF   ADJUSTING   LABOR   AND   WAGES. 

Every  circumstance,  which  tends  to  widen  the  distinction  or 
separation  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  employer  and  the 
employed,  and  to  create  opposing  interests  between  them,  is 
alike  unfriendly  to  both  parties.  The  rich  and  the  poor,  the 
employer  and  the  employed,  are  equally  essential  to  each  other. 

*  The  Duke  of  Richmond,  president  of  the  Agricultural  Protection  Society. 
29* 


342  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

Formerly,  the  laborer  lived  in  the  family  of  the  employer,  and 
sat  at  the  same  table.  This  custom  is  now  almost  entirely  done 
away  with  ;  and  laborers,  instead  of  being  members  of  the  same 
family,  live  wholly  by  themselves.  It  used  to  be  much  more 
the  custom  than  now  to  pay  the  laborers  in  kind  ;  and  then  the 
laborer  had  a  special  interest  in  the  crop,  and  high  prices  were 
quite  as  much  for  his  advantage  as  for  that  of  his  master.  This 
practice  still  prevails  to  a  degree  in  Scotland,  but  nowhere,  that  I 
have  found,  in  England.  Under  present  arrangements,  however, 
where  wages  are  paid  in  money,  the  two  interests,  as  in  all 
other  cases  of  commercial  trading,  become  distinct,  and,  I  may 
add,  opposed  to  each  other.  What  one  receives,  lessens,  of 
course,  the  gains  of  the  other.  The  employer  gives  as  little  as 
possible ;  and  where  labor  is  abundant,  and  competition  severe, 
it  is  obvious  he  has  the  laborer  very  much  at  his  mercy.  The 
laborer,  on  the  other  hand,  will  not  be  likely  to  return  any  more 
than  the  strictest  interpretation  of  his  obligation  requires.  This 
may  be  the  occasion  of  a  matter  to  which  I  have  before  alluded 
—  that,  in  my  opinion,  an  English  laborer  does  not  accomplish 
nearly  so  much  in  the  same  time  as  an  American  laborer.  I 
speak  of  cases  in  which  the  American  is  working  for  himself, 
the  Englishman  for  another.  In  cases  where  work  is  taken  by 
the  piece  or  job,  as  in  harvest  for  example,  there  seems  to  be  no 
want  of  application  or  success,  on  the  part  of  the  English 
laborer. 

Philanthropic  minds  are  now  every  where  anxiously  at  work 
devising  means  or  schemes  for  the  benefit  of  the  laborers,  and 
to  mitigate  the  evils  of  their  condition,  which  otherwise  are 
likely  to  be  increased  rather  than  diminished,  as  the  population 
increases.  In  Austrian  Poland,  where  the  peasants  are  them- 
selves occupiers  of  land,  the  landlord  or  proprietor  of  the  soil 
claims  from  them  a  certain  number  of  days'  work,  each  week, 
exclusively  for  himself ;  but  no  such  arrangement  would  be  pos- 
sible in  England  ;  nor  would  it  obviate  the  difiiculty  to  which  I 
have  referred. 

1.  Experiment  in  Germany.  —  A  German  baron,  with  whom 
I  have  the  pleasure  of  a  friendly  acquaintance,  has  given  me  an 
outline  of  his  arrangement  with  his  laborers,  which,  as  far  as  it 
is  practicable,  deserves  much  consideration,  as,  according  to  his 


1  MODE    OF    ADJUSTING    LABOR    AND    WAGES.  343 

own  account,  it  secures  their  industry,  fidelity,  and  contentment. 
No  human  arrangements  are  perfect,  and  no  human  laws  can  be 
framed  which  the  ingenuity  of  men  will  not  contrive  to  evade  ; 
but  as  there  appears  in  this  plan  every  motive  to  good  faith,  good 
faith  on  both  sides  would  seem  to  be  all  that  is  necessary  to  its 
successful  operation. 

First,  from  the  products  of  the  place,  the- customary  rent  is 
paid,  and  the  wages  of  the  labor  employed.  The  surplus 
remaining  is  then  divided  into  five  equal  parts.  Two  of  these 
parts  are  claimed  by  the  proprietor  for  his  skill,  intelligence,  and 
care,  in  the  superintendence  and  management  of  the  property  ; 
one  part  is  retained  as  an  insurance  upon  that  part  of  the  property 
which  is  liable  to  loss  or  destruction ;  one  part  is  devoted  to 
actual  improvements  upon  the  place  ;  and  one  is  divided  among 
the  laborers  themselves,  according  to  the  rate  of  wages  which 
they  receive  for  their  work.  Whether  these  proportions  are 
properly  adjusted  or  not,  I  shall  leave  to  the  judgment  of  my 
readers.  It  is  obvious  that  any  others  might  be  adopted  which 
should  be  deemed  more  just.  It  is  certainly  an  approach  to  an 
equitable  arrangement ;  and  my  friend  assures  me  that  it  works 
well.  He  says,  he  leaves  his  estate  at  any  time  with  a  perfect 
confidence  that  his  interests  will  be  cared  for  and  protected,  and 
that  there  will  be  no  waste  of  time,  and  no  squandering  of 
property,  and  no  neglect  of  duty.  Success  is,  in  proportion,  as 
much  the  interest  of  the  laborers  as  of  the  proprietor. 

2.  Claims  of  Labor,  and  Duties  of  Wealth.  —  This  has  al- 
ways impressed  my  mind  as  only  an  equitable  adjustment,  and 
must  be  equally  as  soothing  to  a  good  man's  conscience  as  to  a 
poor  man's  stomach.  Contradicted,  as  I  have  often,  and  severely 
reproached,  as  I  have  sometimes,  been  for  the  assertion,  I  never- 
theless maintain  as  my  sober  conviction,  that  in  all  business 
where  success  depends  on  labor,  — whether  it  be  in  the  case  of 
manufacturing  industry,  in  agricultural  labor,  or  in  the  toils  and 
hardships  of  a  seafaring  life,  —  the  person  who  does  the  work, 
who  endures  the  hardships,  who  encounters  the  exposures,  has 
the  first  claim  upon  the  proceeds,  and  should  come  in  for  an 
equitable  share  of  the  profits.  I  admit  that  there  is  much  labor 
and  anxiety  in  mental  application,  and  in  the  active  enterprise 
and  care  on  the  part  of  the  manager  of  such  concerns,  which  are 


344  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE.  f 

often  as  severe  as  any  bodily  toil,  and  which  deserve  to  be  fully 
compensated.  In  general,  this  enterprise  is  perfectly  competent, 
however,  to  take  care  of  its  own  interests,  and  seldom  fails  to 
provide  for  itself.  But  it  is  said,  these  people  take  no  risks  ; 
they  are  sure,  in  any  event,  of  their  stipulated  wages ;  they  have 
no  right  to  any  more.  I  know  they  have  no  legal  right.  But  I 
do  not  understand  that  they  take  no  risks.  There  is  always  a 
risk  of  losing  their  wages,  which  is  something ;  but  in  all  em- 
ployments there  is  a  risk  of  health,  and  in  many  a  constant 
exposure  to  disease,  to  accidents  of  various  kinds,  to  loss  of 
sight,  or  loss  of  limbs,  or  loss  of  life.  There  are  many  trades 
and  professions  where  health  is  almost  certain  to  be  impaired, 
and  life  to  be  prematurely  cut  off.  There  are  peculiar  dangers 
in  mines,  among  complicated  machinery,  in  unhealthy  climates, 
on  the  open  seas,  and  on  the  ice-bound  and  rock-bound  shores, 
bristled  with  pointed  cliffs  and  ruffled  with  foaming  waves. 

I  know  very  well  the  great  rules  of  trade,  as  they  are  called  — 
*'  Buy  as  cheaply  as  you  can  ;  sell  as  dearly  as  you  can  ;  get  your 
labor  performed  for  the  least  possible  wages ;  and  accumulate, 
accumulate,  accumulate,  as  your  great  end  and  aim."  This  men 
call  Christianity  ;  I  think,  to  give  it  such  a  name  is  a  libel  upon 
a  religion  which  teaches  us  to  do  justly  and  to  love  mercy, 
and  which  enjoins  it  upon  us,  as  the  highest  law  of  social  duty, 
to  do  to  others  as  we  would  that  others  should  do  to  us.  I 
admit  that,  if  men  could  enter  into  a  perfectly  free  and  equal 
competition,  unmixed  self-interest,  though  an  inferior,  might  yet 
not  be  so  objectionable  a  rule  as  in  other  circumstances ;  but 
how  seldom  is  the  competition  equal  between  capital  and  labor, 
wealth  and  poverty,  skill  and  ignorance  ;  and  especially  in  a 
country  like  England,  where  wealth  is  enormous ;  labor  supera- 
bundant ;  the  professions,  and  trades,  and  occupations  crowded 
to  repletion  ;  the  lower  classes  extremely  ignorant  and  dependent  ; 
and  the  population  increasing  with  a  rapidity  perfectly  astound- 
ing. I  complain  of  no  man's  wealth,  if  that  wealth  be  the  fruit 
of  honest  industry  and  enterprise.  I  envy  no  man's  power,  if 
that  power  be  justly  acquired.  But  I  do  envy  —  with  no  desire, 
however,  to  pluck  a  single  jewel  from  his  crown — that  man's 
honor  and  felicity,  and  equally  his  wisdom  and  goodness,  who, 
m  the  possession  of  ample  power,  whether  of  wealth,  or  learning, 
or  talents,  finds  his  highest  honor  in  being  just,  and  his  purest 


.MODE    OF    ADJUSTING    LABOR    AND    WAGES. 


happiness  in  using  this  power  in  doing  good  ;  in  succoring  those 
who  need  succor  ;  in  helping  those  who  are  trying  to  help 
themselves ;  in  encouraging  and  stimulating  self-respect,  and  a 
virtuous  ambition  to  make  their  condition  better,  even  in  the 
most  humble ;  in  proving  himself  the  friend  of  the  friendless ; 
in  protecting  and  rewarding  industry,  sobriety,  and  frugality,  not 
in  a  niggardly,  but  a  generous  manner ;  in  sharing  some  liberal 
measure  of  his  abundance  with  those  by  whose  labor,  under  the 
blessing  of  Heaven,  this  abundance  has  been  created;  and  in 
sending  light,  and  comfort,  and  plenty,  into  the  cottages  and 
hearts  of  those  who  have  sowed  his  fields,  and  brought  on  their 
toil-worn  shoulders  the  fruits  of  their  cultivation  to  his  stores. 
The  golden  harvests  of  such  a  man  in  every  wave  reflect 
Heaven's  purest  sunshine ;  his  dew-bespangled  fields  glitter 
with  a  radiance  brighter  than  ever  shone  in  a '  regal  diadem ; 
and  the  happiness  and  joy,  which  he  sends  into  the  homes  and 
hearts  of  others,  return  in  gushing  streams  to  flood  lys  own  home 
and  his  own  heart. 

I  know  my  poor  words  will  find  a  warm  response  in  many  a 
kind  bosom,  and,  by  Heaven's  blessing,  may  throw  a  spark  into 
that  smoking  flax,  which  too  much  of  what  is  called  prosperity 
may  not  yet  have  quenched.  There  are  many  such  hearts  ;  but 
in  general  we  see  "  who  gets  the  lion's  share."  To  reason 
with  avarice,  is  well  nigh  desperate.  If  it  were  an  iceberg,  we 
might  hope  that,  under  the  rays  of  a  clear  sun,  it  might  be  made 
to  trickle ;  but  it  is  a  mass  of  granite,  which,  like  the  monu- 
mental column  in  Trafalgar  Square,  stands  wholly  unmoved  by 
the  forlorn  and  pitiable  objects  of  destitution  and  wretchedness, 
whom  I  have  often  seen,  in  a  winter's  day,  sunning  themselves 
at  its  base ;  and  remains  alike  impervious  to  heat  or  cold,  to  calm 
or  storm,  to  summer's  fires  or  winter's  frosts. 

3.  Results  of  the  German  Experiment.  —  The  friend,  to 
whom  I  have  referred,  has  three  hundred  laborers  in  his  employ- 
ment. He  says,  the  system  works  well ;  and  that  every  year's 
experience  gives  him  stronger  confidence  in  its  justice  and 
advantages.  First,  his  work  is  done ;  secondly,  it  is  done  in 
the  best  manner  in  which  his  laborers  are  able  to  execute  it, 
because  it  as  the  interest  of  all  that  it  should  be  done,  and  well 
done.     The  laborers  have  a  system  of  rules  and  fines  among 


346  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

themselves,  always  subject  to  his  approbation,  and,  after  once 
approved,  always  rigidly  enforced.  They  inquire,  of  their  own 
accord,  into  the  best  methods  of  doing  what  is  to  be  done  ,*  they 
point  out  mistakes  which  have  been  committed,  and  improve- 
ments which  may  be  made,  subject  always  to  his  judgment.  If 
men  are  found  unskilful  or  incompetent  in  the  particular  branch 
of  duty  assigned  them,  he  is  adyised  of  it,  and  persons  more 
suitable  are  selected  by  their  judgment  who  best  understand  the 
capacities  of  their  fellow-laborers  for  the  work.  They  are  held 
jointly  responsible  for  any  injury  to  the  property,  unless  the 
offending  person  is  found.  An  individual  guilty  of  any  neglect 
of  duty,  or  any  improper  conduct,  or  any  violation  of  the  estab- 
lished rules,  is  mulcted  in  a  pecuniary  fine.  The  names  of  the 
offenders  are  always  announced  at  the  close  of  the  year;  and 
these  fines  go  towards  a  general  entertainment  and  festivity. 
The  proprietor  himself  hears  all  complaints,  and  a  laborer,  whose 
bad  habits  are  judged  incorrigible,  is  discharged. 

I  have  been  somewhat  amused  by  his  telling  me  that  the 
great  evil  which  he  has  to  contend  with  is  the  use  of  tobacco. 
Smoking  upon  his  premises  he  absolutely  forbids,  for  three  good 
reasons  —  first,  the  danger  of  fire  ;  secondly,  for  the  time  which 
it  occupies,  and  the  lazy  habits  which  it  induces  ;  and  thirdly, 
because  he  deems  its  effects  upon  the  stomach  extremely  per- 
nicious to  health,  and  incapacitating  men  in  a  degree  for  labor. 
In  other  words,  he  views  it  as  a  poison.  So  do  I.  I  wish  it 
was  as  quick  and  fatal  in  its  operation  as  arsenic,  or  prussic  acid, 
always  premising,  however,  that  those  who  now  use  it  in  any 
form  should  be  fully  and  reasonably  forewarned. 

4.  Scotch  Customs — a  Digression. — My  readers  will,  I 
hope,  be  indulgent  to  my  infirmity,  which  has  been,  even  in 
this  country,  sometimes  put  to  a  severe  test.  In  Scotland,  for 
example,  they  take  snuff  with  a  spoon.  A  small  silver  spoon,  or 
one  made  of  bone,  is  filled  from  the  horn,  and  then  thrust  up  the 
nose.  To  complete  the  refinement,  there  is  also  a  small  brush  to 
clean  the  upper  lip,  and  edges  of  the  nostrils.  The  reader  may 
judge  of  my  sensations  when  the  spoon  and  the  horn  were  both 
actually  offered  to  me  in  church.  There  may,  however,  in  this 
case  be  some  claims  to  indulgence,  for  in  one  of  the  Scotch 
meetings  which  I  attended,  the  extempore  prayer  was  actually 


THE  DEAD-MEAT  MARKETS.  347 

one  hour,  and  the  sermon  which  followed,  two  hours  in  length  j 
both,  I  admit,  excellent  in  their  way.  But  then,  although  the 
argument  and  the  doctrine  were  sufficiently  stimulating  to  a 
stranger,  yet  veterans  accustomed  to  such  engagements  might 
get  to  sleep,  from  pure  exhaustion,  under  the  discharges  even  of 
musketry  and  cannon,  and  might  require  extraordinary  appli- 
cations to  keep  their  sensibility  alive.  I  will  say,  however,  in 
justice  to  the  Scotch,  that  I  never  witnessed  more  decorum,  and 
more  wakeful  attention,  in  time  of  service,  than  in  the  Scotch 
meetings ;  and  they  bore  these  inflictions  or  penances,  as  less 
serious  minds  would  consider  them,  with  a  philosophic  submis- 
sion, worthy  of  the  pillar  saints  in  the  dark  ages. 

While  speaking  of  the  manners  of  the  rural  population,  I 
may  allude  to  another  practice  prevailing  in  some  of  the  rural 
districts  in  Scotland,  which  some  persons  in  the  rural  districts 
in  the  United  States  may  feel  an  interest  in  knowing.  I 
attended  worship,  in  Scotland,  in  a  most  quiet  and  delightful 
district  of  country,  and  among  green  fields  cultivated  with  the 
highest  skill,  and  loaded  with  the  richest  crops,  where,  when 
the  first  regular  service  was  through,  and  all  done,  after  an 
interval  of  about  ten  minutes,  during  which  the  minister  never 
left  his  pulpit,  nor  the  congregation  their  seats,  the  minister 
began  and  went  through  another  whole  service,  and  gave  a 
second  sermon  on  a  diff"erent  subject,  as  long  as  the  former. 
This  finished  for  the  day,  and,  as  I  was  informed,  was  so 
arranged  that  the  farmers,  and  farmers'  wives  and  daughters, 
who  lived  at  some  distance,  might  get  home  in  season  to  milk 
their  cows,  and  tend  their  cattle.  I  had  likewise  a  slight 
impression  come  over  my  mind,  that  they  meant  to  have  their 
money's  worth  of  instruction,  and  did  not  choose  to  let  their 
spiritual  laborer  off  with  half  a  day's  work  for  full  wages.  It 
required,  however,  a  healthy  intellectual  digestion  to  dispose  of 
two  full  meals  at  once. 


LVIIL  — THE  DEAD-MEAT   MARKETS. 

Besides  the  cattle  and  grain  markets,  there  are  other  markets, 
to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  connected  with  agriculture, 


348  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

which  are  sometimes  called  by  the  startling  designation,  the 
dead  markets^  by  which  is  only  intended  markets  for  the  sale  of 
slaughtered  animals,  beef,  mutton,  pork,  lamb,  veal,  &c.  &c., 
and  which  in  London  are  quite  worth  a  visit.  The  largest  of 
these,  in  this  great  metropolis,  are  Newgate  and  Leadenhall 
Markets ;  and  it  is  a  curious  fact,  that  the  former  occupies  a 
building  (the  magnificent  entrance  of  which  still  remains,  with 
its  high  and  ornamented  archway,  and  its  aisles,  with  the  old 
columns,  form  the  meat-stalls)  which  was  formerly  a  literary 
institution,  or  college.  Instead  of  food  for  the  mind,  it  now 
furnishes  food  for  the  body ;  and  instead  of  the  purvey  ors  of  intel- 
lectual provisions,  —  poetry,  philosophy,  eloquence,  and  science,  — 
here  stand  the  purveyors  of  mutton,  pork,  and  beef — a  very  ig- 
noble office,  and  a  very  humiliating  descent,  as  some  refined 
and  sensitive  persons  would  deem  it :  but  alas !  what  would 
become  of  science,  philosophy,  eloquence,  or  even  poetry  itself, 
without  mutton,  pork,  and  beef?  The  philosophical  Edward 
Search,  in  his  most  admirable  work,  "  The  Light  of  Nature," 
says,  ''  that  he  has  found  a  draught  of  Daff'y's  Elixir,  on  getting  up 
in  the  morning,  a  powerful  means  of  grace,  dispelling  doubts 
and  despondencies,  and  strengthening  and  brightening  his  faith  ;  " 
and  though,  through  a  foolish  pride,  we  may  be  disposed  to  deny 
or  not  to  recognize  our  relations  in  humble  life,  as  citizens  some- 
times "cut"  their  country  cousins  when  they  meet  them  in 
town,  yet  the  stomach  and  understanding  are  near  neighbors, 
and  the  one  absolutely  dependent  on  the  other.  What  nature 
hath  joined  no  man  can  put  asunder; 

The  markets  in  London  display  their  meats  to  considerable 
advantage ;  and  besides  the  great  markets,  meat  shops  prevail 
all  over  the  town,  and  are  found  in  some  of  the  best  streets 
intermingled  with  other  kinds  of  shops  of  the  most  splendid 
description.  Even  Bond  Street,  the  very  emporium  of  fashion, 
elegance,  and  taste,  has  its  meat  shops,  where  whole  carcasses  of 
mutton  are  suspended  before  the  doors  in  long  rows,  as,  under 
the  bloody  code  of  former  years,  prisoners  at  the  close  of  the 
sessions  used  to  be  suspended  at  the  Old  Bailey,  —  except  in  this 
case  in  an  inverse  order,  the  heads  of  the  sheep  being  down- 
wards, as  mutton-heads  are  apt  to  get  inverted.  A  fine  lady,  in 
passing  from  one  milliner's  or  jeweller's  shop  to  another,  must 
take  very  good  care,  lest,  instead  of  encountering  a  fine  beau,  to 


THE  DEAD-MEAT  MARKETS.  349 

which  she  might  not  object,  she  encounters  a  fine  quarter  ot 
beef,  or  a  fine  sheep,  which  certainly,  if  taste  only  were  con- 
sulted, she  would  prefer  to  meet  in  another  form  and  place. 
The  mcongruity  is  at  first  offensive  to  a  stranger,  and  seems  in 
very  bad  taste ;  but  an  amateur  finds  some  compensation  in  the 
beauty  of  the  objects  thus  exhibited.  I  do  not  mean  the  ladies, 
of  whom  possibly  I  may  speak  in  another  place,  but  the  meats. 
Mutton  is  always  the  prevailing  meat,  for  this  seems  to  be  the 
favorite  dish  on  English  tables.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that 
mutton  is  the  prevalent  dish  at  the  public  schools  and  colleges. 
At  the  Blue  Coat  School  in  London,  for  example,  it  is  the  sole 
meat  for  the  eight  hundred  boys,  four  or  five  days  out  of  seven. 
The  same  is  the  case,  I  am  told,  at  Eton  ;  and  this  not,  as  I  sup- 
posed, from  its  comparative  cheapness,  but  from  experience,  and 
the  opinion  of  medical  men,  that  it  is  the  most  wholesome  diet,  and 
least  likely  to  interfere  with  intellectual  application  and  health. 

The  Southdown  and  the  Leicester  sheep  are  generally  pre- 
ferred, though  the  small  Welsh  mutton,  for  its  exquisite  flavor,  is 
most  esteemed  ;  and  the  fatness  of  the  beef,  and  mutton,  and  lamb, 
is  every  where  most  striking.  Indeed,  in  the  English  markets, 
lean  meat  is  hardly  to  be  seen.  If  it  is  sold,  it  is  certainly 
seldom  displayed.  The  meat-shops  are  eminently  clean;  this, 
indeed,  is  the  universal  characteristic  of  the  English  people  above 
the  lowest  classes,  who  in  London  are  eminently  dirty.  The 
salesmen,  however,  with  their  blue  woollen  frocks  and  aprons,  in 
tidyness  of  appearance  would  hardly  bear  a  comparison  with  the 
salesmen  and  women  in  the  Philadelphia  markets,  with  their  white 
linen  frocks  and  aprons.  Indeed,  in  this  respect,  Philadelphia, 
as  far  as  my  observation  goes,  stands  preeminent.  Cleanliness, 
it  is  often  said,  and  with  a  good  deal  of  reason,  is  next  to  godli- 
ness. I  confess  to  this  creed.  I  think  it  should  be  inculcated 
as  a  religious  duty,  and  for  its  useful  moral  influences.  The 
sect  of  Friends  regard  it  as  such  ;  and  it  is  doubtless  much  owing 
to  their  influence  and  example,  that  Philadelphia  is  so  prover- 
bially neat.  Many  of  the  English  butchers  and  salesmen  are 
distinguished  for  their  intelligence,  and  the  great  extent  of  their 
concerns. 

1.  Slaughter-Houses  in  London.  — I  have  already  said  that 
a  great  deal  of  the  meat  which  is  exposed  for  sale  in  London  is 
30 


350  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

killed  in  the  country,  and  at  some  seasons  of  the  year  brought 
even  from  remote  parts  of  Scotland.  But  I  shall  perhaps  surprise 
some  of  my  readers  by  informing  them  that  London  is  full  of 
slaughtering-houses.  The  police  of  London  is  so  exemplary, 
and  many  of  these  places  are  kept  with  such  perfect  neatness, 
that  even  the  nearest  neighbors  are  not  apprized  of  their  exist- 
ence.* This  fact  may  be  recommended  to  the  attention  of  the 
butchers  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston,  and  some  other  of  our  large 
towns.  Their  neighbors  certainly  will  join  in  this  recommenda- 
tion, for  most  of  these  slaughtering  establishments  are  an  intol- 
erable nuisance.  In  some  of  the  best  streets  in  London,  where 
the  meat-shops  are  found,  will  be  found  behind  these  shops  the 
slaughter-houses,  where  this  meat  is  killed.  You  will  some- 
times see  cattle  and  sheep  brought  in  by  the  front  door  of  very 
respectable  looking  houses,  (for  the  yards  of  the  houses  are  oth- 
erwise inaccessible,)  like  acquaintances  of  the  family.  Back 
of  these  shops,  I  have  been  introduced  into  elegantly  furnished 
drawing-rooms,  and  did  not  discover  that  the  slaughtering  estab- 
lishment was  immediately  adjoining,  until  I  looked  out  of  the 
window.  There  is  not  the  slightest  odor  perceptible,  to  offend  the 
senses.  The  animals  come  out  in  a  very  different  form  from,  what 
they  go  in.  The  blood  goes  at  once  into  the  common  sewers, 
and  the  offal  is  carefully  removed.     In  the  neighborhood  of  the 

*  One  great  means  of  the  extraordinary  cleanliness  of  London  is,  that  no  swine 
are  ever  allowed  to  be  kept  in  it.  The  lower  class  of  Irish,  who  migrate  to  Lon- 
don in  vast  numbers,  (for  where,  indeed,  do  not  these  laborious  creatures  migrate  ?) 
are  thus  obliged  to  abandon  the  tender  familiarities  of  their  early  years,  v/hich 
have  "grown  with  their  growth,  and  strengthened  with  their  strength."  As  the 
ruling  passion,  however,  is  always  strong,  and  the  Irish  heart,  even  in  the  hum- 
blest condition,  is  distinguished  by  warm  affections,  they  contrive,  as  some  of  the 
gentlemen  of  the  health  commission  have  informed  me,  many  times  in  a  very 
adroit  manner  to  evade  the  law,  and  the  pig  and  the  donkey  are  often  regularly 
installed  lodgers  in  their  rooms,  and  free  sharers  at  their  humble  board.  It  is 
said  that  when  the  terror  of  the  Asiatic  cholera  prevailed,  and  a  health  com- 
mittee visited  the  premises  of  the  poorer  classes  in  Edinburgh,  with  a  view  to 
remove  the  incitements  of  disease,  they  found  in  one  of  the  upper  chambers  of  one 
of  the  very  high-storied  houses  of  that  city,  inhabited  by  an  Irish  family,  a  large 
hog  among  the  children.  Upon  inquiry  how  he  could  have  been  got  up  there, 
the  owner  replied  with  genuine  Hibernian  simplicity,  "  Plaze  yer  honor,  he  was 
never  got  up  here  at  all  at  all ;  but  he  was  barn  here."  I  do  not  know  why  an 
Irishman  should  not  be  attached  to  his  pig,  as  well  as  a  nobleman  to  his  dog.  In 
substantial  usefulness,  the  pig  would  not  suffer  by  the  comparison.  I  cannot  say 
as  much  of  his  moral  developments. 


THE  DEAD-MEAT  MARKETS.  351 

great  markets,  however,  the  slaughter-houses  are  in  cellars  under 
ground,  and  are  not  managed  with  equal  neatness.  It  requires 
some  courage  to  enter  these  places.  In  the  extensive  market  at 
White  Chapel,  the  slaughtering  establishments  are  above  ground 
in  the  rear  of  the  stalls,  and  the  gutters  of  the  streets  literally 
flow  with  blood. 

2.  Customs  of  the  Jews.  —  The  market  at  White  Chapel  is 
in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  quarter  of  the  city  where 
most  of  the  Jews  reside.  The  Jews  will  never  eat  or  buy  any 
meat,  which  is  not  killed  by  some  one  of  their  community 
deputed  or  appointed  for  that  express  purpose.  He  comes  at 
the  time  fixed  and  kills  the  animal ;  and  after  the  meat  is  dressed, 
if  he  finds  upon  it  the  slightest  blemish  or  indication  of  disease, 
the  meat  is  condemned,  and  no  Jew  will  buy  it,  though  the 
Christians  betray  no  scruples  of  this  sort.*  If  the  meat  is  found 
perfectly  sound  and  healthy,  a  clasp  or  token  is  put  upon  the 
leg,  and  the  Jews  are  at  liberty  to  purchase  it. 

Any  person  who  has  the  curiosity  to  go  into  the  Jews'  quarter, 
and  see  how  they  live,  behold  the  filth  of  their  streets,  the 
wretchedness  of  their  habitations,  remark  a  squalidness  which 
no  description  can  exaggerate,  and  inhale  the  odors  of  which 
the  place  is  redolent,  which  seem  to  be  the  very  compound  of 


*  The  subjoined  note  is  of  a  nature  scarcely  to  be  read  .by  any  person  of  a 
very  sensitive  and  delicate  mind.  I  advise  such  persons,  therefore,  by  all  means 
to  pass  it  over.  I  give  it  in  self-defence,  and  to  show  that  I  do  not  intend  to 
make  statements  without  authority. 

In  my  Third  Report,  page  261, 1  said  that  "  numbers  of  cattle  are  almost  every 
week,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe,  brought  to  Smithfield  in  such  a  state  of  disease 
as  to  be  fit  for  no  other  pui-pose  —  and  for  this  they  are  actually  bought  —  but  to 
make  sausages  for  the  poor  Londoners."  This  statement  a  kind  and  intelligent 
friend  complained  of  as  unAvaiTantable,  and  not  well  founded.  The  form  of  ex- 
pression might,  I  admit,  have  been  better  chosen ;  but  the  reason  I  had  to  believe 
the  fact,  Avas  the  direct  assertion  of  some  respectable  salesmen  in  Smithfield 
Market,  who  spoke  of  the  practice  as  undoubted.  This  was  particularly  appli- 
cable to  the  time  when  an  epidemic  prevailed  among  the  cattle.  1  do  not  believe 
any  city  officer  would  permit  or  connive  at  it,  if  known ;  but  cases  of  a  strongly 
suspicious  character  are  yet  established  with  so  much  difficulty  by  what  would  be 
deemed  legal  evidence,  that  parties  notoriously  criminal  often  escape  with  im- 
punity. 

But  the  following  statement,  given  under  oath  to  Dr.  Playfair  and  Sir  Henry 
de  la  Beche,  of  the  Health  of  Towns  Commission,  during  their  inquiry  into  the 


352 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


corruption  and  pestilence,  and  of  all  that  is  odious  and  disgust- 
ing, will  feel  no  little  surprise  at  their  particularity  and  fastidious- 
ness in  regard  to  their  meats.  But  these  are  among  the  incon- 
sistencies and  anomalies  of  human  nature,  which  are  to  be  found 
among  persons  in  almost  every  condition.  The  same  inconsist- 
ency is  seen,  for  example,  among  the  lower  class  of  Irishwomen 
in  their  own  country,  however  humble  in  condition,  with  whom 
it  seems  to  be  the  ruling,  and  an  indomitable  passion,  to  have  a 
clean  and  handsome  cap,  though  in  most  other  respects  one 
would  be  half  inclined  to  think  they  were  laboring  under  a 
species  of  hydrophobia.  You  will  see  them,  the  head  surmounted 
with  an  elegant  frilled  cap,  emulating  the  whiteness  of  the 
drifted  snow,  while  the  lower  parts  of  the  person,  in  a  state  of 
nudity,  (for  the  drapery  of  the  statue  of  an  Irishwoman  seldom 
extends  below  the  knee,)  though,  as  pieces  of  sculpture,  exhibiting 
originally  the  highest  artistical  skill,  are  yet  so  rough,  and  torn, 
and  begrimed  and  stuccoed  with  mud  and  dirt,  that  you  can 
hardly  believe  that  both  ends  belong  to  the  same  person,  and 
that  the  head  has  not  by  some  awkward  mistake  got  upon  the 
wrong  shoulders. 

3.  Mode   of  slaughtering  Animals.  —  I  have  felt  it  a  duty 
of  humanity  to  inquire  into  the  mode  of  slaughtering  animals. 


state  of  Bristol,  may  serve  to  clear  up  some  of  my  friend's  doubts  on  the  subject 
Report  on  Lancashire,  p.  30. 

"  Have  you  resided  some  time  in  this  house  ?  "    "  Yes,  for  several  years." 

"  What  occupation  does  your  neighbor  pursue  ?  "  "  He  kills  pigs,  which  he 
gets  over  from  Ireland.  Often  the  pigs,  in  coming  over  in  the  packet,  die,  and  I 
have  seen  as  many  as  thirty  dead  pigs  at  a  time  brought  into  the  yard.  They  are 
thrown  into  the  shed  there  until  there  is  time  to  cut  them  up ;  and  by  that  time  I 
have  seen  the  maggots  fairly  dropping  out  of  them.  Then  they  are  cut  up,  and, 
I  believe,  are  made  into  salt  bacon,  or  sold  for  sausages."        #         *         *         * 

"  Have  you  not  complained  of  this  nuisance  ?  "  "  Yes,  we  have  ;  but  we  were 
told  it  was  of  no  use  complaining,  for  doctors  agreed  that  these  smells  were  very 
healthy.  Besides,  the  owner  of  the  yard  is  a  very  good  neighbor,  and  tries  to 
keep  things  as  clean  as  he  can ;  but  his  occupation  beats  him  in  that." 

What  can  go  beyond  this  ?  But  why,  it  may  be  asked,  refer  to  such  cases  ? 
Because,  in  order  to  correct  an  abuse,  and  to  guard  against  it,  that  abuse  should 
be  exposed.  Nor  is  it  without  a  melancholy  instruction,  to  see  to  what  extremes 
avarice  will  hurry  its  votaries ;  nor  without  a  moral  use,  to  hold  up  the  perpetra- 
tor of  such  wickedness  towards  the  poor  and  ignorant  to  the  execration  which 
they  deserve. 


i 


THE  DEAD-MEAT  MARKETS.  353 

with  a  view  to  discover  if  there  be  any  way  of  lessening  the 
suffering  necessarily  inflicted.  When  it  is  considered  that  from 
thirty  to  forty  thousand  animals,  poultry  and  game  not  included, 
are  put  to  death  weekly,  for  the  supply  of  the  city  of  London 
alone,  it  becomes  a  grave  question  of  humanity  whether  any, 
and  if  any,  what  amount,  of  the  physical  suffering  necessarily 
incident  to  such  operations,  can  be  saved. 

«  The  poor  beetle,  that  we  tread  upon, 
In  corporal  sufferance  finds  a  pang  as  great 
As  when  a  giant  dies." 

The  moral  influences  of  the  employment,  in  this  case,  are  cer- 
tainly deserving  of  consideration.  The  notions  of  former  times 
were  such,  that  a  butcher  was  not  allowed  to  sit  as  juror  in  a 
trial  of  life  and  death.  I  cannot  sympathize  in  these  prejudices ; 
but  any  practice,  which  tends  in  any  degree  to  render  us  indif- 
ferent to  the  infliction  of  pain,  even  in  the  case  of  a  dumb 
animal,  — any  practice  bordering  upon  cruelty,  —  cannot  be  with- 
out its  pernicious  effects  upon  the  temper  and  character  of  persons 
accustomed  to  it.  It  may  seem  to  some  persons  a  ridiculous 
squeamishness,  but  I  confess  that  I  never  see  cooked  animals 
brought  upon  table  as  near  as  possible  in  the  form  of  life, 
whether  it  be  game  or  any  thing  else,  without  a  painful  disgust, 
which  I  find  it  impossible  to  overcome.  It  is  a  mysterious  law 
of  nature  that  animals  should  feed  upon  each  other ;  and  cer- 
tainly, as  we  cannot  doubt,  like  all  the  laws  of  nature,  a  benefi- 
cent law ;  but  it  is  the  ferocity  of  a  tiger,  and  not  becoming  a 
man,  which  delights  to  regale  itself  with  the  warm  blood  of  his 
victim ;  and  though  I  am  no  Bramin,  I  wish  always  that  the 
food  which  I  eat  should  be  as  far  as  possible  separated  from  al". 
associations  of  life. 

Sheep  are  slaughtered  by  thrusting  a  straight  knife  through 
the  neck,  between  its  bone  and  the  windpipe,  "  severing  the 
carotid  artery  and  jugular  vein  on  both  sides,"  by  which  they 
bleed  freely,  and  life  soon  becomes  extinct.  They  are  kept 
fasting  twenty-four  hours  before  death,  as  it  is  said  that,  if  killed 
upon  a  full  stomach,  the  meat  is  not  so  agreeable  to  the  taste, 
and  sooner  passes  into  a  putrid  state.  Sheep  are  placed  here 
upon  a  cradle  or  stool,  to  be  killed,  as  with  us.  I  am  not  very 
well  able  to  describe  the  mode  of  cutting  up  and  dressing,  fur- 
ther than  to  say,  that  it  exhibits  a  remarkable  neatness  ;  that  the 
30* 


354  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

meat,  as  far  as  I  can  observe,  is  never  blown ;  and  that  the  car- 
cass is  not,  as  with  us,  slit  down  by  the  back-bone,  and  so 
divided  into  four  quarters ;  but  a  piece  nearly  square  is  cut  from 
the  loins,  termed  here  a  saddle  of  mutton,  which  is  esteemed  a 
more  choice  part  for  roasting  than  the  leg,  and  is  always  a 
favorite  dish  upon  an  elegant  table.  The  butchers,  or  cooks, 
have  likewise  a  habit,  not  certainly  general  with  us,  but  much 
to  be  commended  —  that  of  separating  the  joints  before  the  meat  is 
cooked,  which  greatly  alleviates  the  difficulty  of  carving. 

The  mode  of  slaughtering  cattle  differs  from  that  of  slaughter- 
ing sheep.  Some  gentlemen,  a  few  years  ago,  interested  them- 
selves much  on  this  subject,  on  the  sole  ground  of  humanity,  and 
experiments  were  made  of  killing  the  animal,  by  driving  a  sharp 
instrument  directly  into  the  spinal  cord,  back  of  the  horns ;  but, 
although  the  animal  fell  instantly,  yet  the  convulsions  continued 
much  longer  than  when  he  was  killed  by  being  stunned,  by  the 
former  method,  and  it  was  reasonably  inferred  that  the  suffer- 
ing, therefore,  was  much  greater.  This  is  said  to  be  the  mode 
adopted  in  the  great  slaughtering  establishments  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Paris,  ''  where  a  sharp-pointed  chisel  is  driven,  with  a 
smart  stroke,  between  the  second  and  third  vertebras  of  the  spine  ; 
insensibility  immediately  ensues,  and  the  blood  is  let  out  by 
opening  the  blood-vessels  of  the  neck."  Besides  the  objection 
made  above  to  this  mode  of  slaughtering,  it  is  said  the  animal 
does  not  bleed  so  freely  and  entirely  as  when  stunned  on  the 
forehead,  as  by  the  former  method.  The  present  mode  of  killing 
is  by  bringing,  by  means  of  a  ring  on  the  floor  and  a  rope  passed 
round  the  foot  of  the  horns,  the  ox's  head  to  the  ground ;  and 
he  is  then  struck  on  the  forehead,  not,  as  with  us,  by  an  axe  with 
a  flat  head,  but  with  a  similar  instrument,  with  a  pointed  end, 
two  or  three  inches  long,  of  the  size  of  the  small  finger,  this 
point  being  hollow,  and  with  sharp  edges,  —  and  this  is  driven 
directly  into  the  upper  forehead.  The  animal  falls  at  once  :  this 
point  is  immediately  extracted,  and  a  wooden  pin,  of  about  the  same 
diameter,  is  driven  into  the  wound,  and  forced  into  the  brain  or 
spinal  marrow,  and  the  animal  dies  at  once.  I  am  not  certain, 
that  this  is  an  improvement  upon  the  mode  of  killing  which  pre- 
vails with  us  ;  though  the  killing  of  an  ox,  with  us,  requires  great 
adroitness  and  great  strength ;  otherwise,  the  blows  require  to  be 
repeated,  and  much  suffering  is  inflicted,  which,  it  would  seem, 


( 


VEGETABLE  AND  FRUIT  MARKETS.  355 

might  be  avoided.  The  English  method  might  be  tried  ;  and  if 
it  has  any  advantages  to  the  sufferer  or  the  executioner,  I  cannot 
doubt  it  would  be  adopted. 

Calves,  as  I  have  observed,  are  not  killed  under  six  or  eight 
weeks  old,  and  they  are  bled  daily  for  a  week  before  they  are 
slaughtered.  I  do  not  know  that  this  is  a  very  painful  operation, 
but  very  little  seems  to  be  gained  by  it.  They  are  killed,  as  with 
us,  by  cutting  the  throats  across.  The  manner,  however,  in 
which  they  are  often  conveyed  through  the  streets,  piled  into  a 
cart,  lengthwise,  by  dozens,  with  their  heads  hanging  down  as 
they  are  jolted  over  the  pavements,  is  perfectly  shocking  to 
humanity,  and  deserves  the  interference  of  the  benevolent 
society  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals.  It  is  sufficiently 
humiliating  to  feel,  that  in  nothing  does  man  more  need  watch- 
ing and  restraint,  than  in  his  treatment  of  the  helpless  and 
defenceless. 

It  is  a  subject  certainly  worthy  of  concern.  It  is  no  affecta- 
tion of  sensibility,  though  by  some  it  may  be  deemed  a  morbid 
sensibility,  to  say,  that  the  subject  is  a  painful  one.  The  pas- 
sion which  one  sometimes  sees  excited  in  the  killing  of  animals, 
and  the  utter  callousness  and  indifference  with  which  some 
persons  go  about  it,  to  whom  the  work  is  familiar,  are  very  far 
from  being  agreeable  features,  either  in  temper  or  conduct.  Tho 
sight  and  smell  of  blood  excite  an  instinctive  horror  even  among 
the  inferior  animals ;  and  any  man,  who  contributes,  in  anyway, 
to  alleviate  pain  and  suffering,  even  among  the  lowest  of  sensi- 
tive existences,  and  to  prevent  cruelty,  more  especially  to  the 
dumb  and  defenceless,  need  not  feel  that  he  has  lived  wholly  in 
vain. 


LIX.  — VEGETABLE   AND  FRUIT  MARKETS. 

England  may  with  reason  boast  of  the  fineness  of  her  fruits, 
especially  as,  in  this  matter,  she  has  to  contend  with  the  adverse 
influences  of  temperature  and  climate.  The  country  abounds  in 
greenhouses,  hothouses,  conservatories,  and  forcing-beds.  All 
the  appliances  of  art,  and  the  highest  measure  of  horticultural 
skill,  are   exerted  to  counteract  the  unfavorable  circumstances 


356  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

under  which  their  cultivation  is  carried  onj  to  protect  plants 
whose  frail  nature  requires  protection ;  and  by  every  possible 
means  to  stimulate  and  bring  to  perfection  those  plants  and 
fruits  which  seem  to  demand  the  same  assiduous  and  parental 
care  as  the  young  of  the  animal  creation.* 

Few  of  the  country  houses  belonging  to  persons  whose  means 
allow  of  such  indulgences,  are  without  forcing-beds,  green- 
houses, and  conservatories.  Many  persons,  whose  means  are 
restricted,  with  a  high  refinement  of  taste,  sacrificing  the  com- 
mon pleasures  of  a  frivolous  and  inferior  character,  prefer  this 
far  higher  class  of  enjoyments  and  luxuries.  In  these  green- 
houses and  conservatories,  the  gayest  flowers,  the  most  precious 
exotic  plants,  and  the  richest  fruits,  are  cultivated.  Many  of 
thege  conservatories,  filled  with  the  choicest  varieties  of  flowering 

*  I  wish  we  knew  more  of  vegetable  life.  Indeed,  what  branch  of  science  is 
there,  of  which  we  have  not  reason  to  wish  we  knew  more?  The  microscope, 
under  tliose  modern  improvements  which  have  increased  its  power,  and  conse- 
quently extended  the  field  of  its  triumphs  in  a  most  astonishing  degree,  is  con- 
stantly bringing  new  wonders  to  light ;  disclosing  the  curious  and  complex 
structure  of  the  vegetable  world ;  and  enabling  us  to  watch  in  some  plants,  in 
their  wonderful  frame-work,  the  rapid  circulation  of  the  streams  of  life.  Such 
discoveries  almost  make  us  feel  that  the  man  who  would  wantonly  pluck  a  lily 
from  its  stem,  and  scatter  its  leaves  to  the  winds,  or  would  trample  a  damask  rose. 
upon  the  ground,  offers  an  offence  to  conscious  life,  and  casts  an  indignity  upon 
some  of  tlie  most  beautiful  expressions  of  the  divine  skill  and  beneficence. 

I  have  recently  had  the  pleasure  of  looking  through  as  powerful  an  instrument, 
of  this  kind,  as  human  art  has  perhaps  as  yet  been  able  to  produce.  Leaves, 
woods  of  different  kinds,  and  different  insects,  were  presented  upon  tiie  field  of 
vision,  and  exhibited  a  structure  so  various,  complicated,  and  exquisitely  finished? 
that  one  seemed  endued  with  a  new  sense,  and  almost  born  into  a  new  world.  • 

I  often  hear  it  said  that  divine  revelation  is  complete  and  full,  and  that  we 
must  look  for  nothing  more.  It  may  be  so  with  a  written  word ;  though  I  know 
of  no  right  which  any  human  mind  has  to  limit  the  dispensations  of  Infinite 
Wisdom ;  and  with  tlie  most  reverential  gratitude  for  what  has  been  given,  I 
confess  there  are  many  more  things,  than  have  been  revealed,  which  my  impa- 
tient curiosity  is  thirstmg  to  know.  But  the  revelations  of  the  natural  world 
seem  only  just  now  begun.  The  telescope  and  the  microscope  are  unfolding 
many  a  book  hitherto  closed  and  sealed,  and  pouring  a  flood  of  light  upon  fields 
of  wonders  which  have  not  before  been  brought  within  the  reach  of  human 
vision,  and  disclosing  objects,  forms,  structures,  contrivances,  modes  of  being,  of 
activity,  of  life,  and  of  enjoyment,  which  force  upon  the  mind  a  sense  of  the 
Creator's  skill,  goodness,  and  power,  absolutely  oppressive,  and  awaken  a  feeling 
of  reverence  and  adoration  wholly  incapable  of  utterance.  We  may  presently 
come  to  understand  the  organization,  for  respiration  and  digestion,  of  the  vegetable 
as  we  do  of  the  animal  world  ;  and  one  is  scarcely  less  mysterious  than  the  other. 


VEGETABLE    AND    FRUIT    MARKETS.  357 

shrubs  and  plants,  are  at  the  side  of,  and  immediately  accessible 
to,  the  drawing-rooms  of  the  houses,  furnishing,  besides  the  most 
'beautiful  objects  of  sight,  an  attractive  recreation  and  delight  to 
the  female  members  of  the  household,  and  a  refreshing  retreat 
from  the  dissipations  of  society,  or  the  harassing  cares  of  do- 
mestic life.* 

The  hothouse  or  greenhouse  productions  of  England  (such 
as  pine-apples  and  grapes,  the  natives  of  climates  of  a  higher 
temperature)  are  not  surpassed  by  any  which  I  have  ever  tasted. 
The  pines,  or  pine-a;pples,  appear  to  me  in  size  quite  equal,  and  in 

*  In  one  of  the  most  beautiful  parts  of  England,  endeared  to  me  by  the  hospi- 
talities of  friends  whose  kindness  I  cannot  too  highly  appreciate,  I  found  even  a 
right  reverend  bishop,  a  man  eminent  for  his  intellectual  powers  and  his  lit- 
erary attainments,  entering,  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  Bacon,  into  the  cultivation 
of  his  garden,  as  "  one  of  the  purest  of  human  delights."  He  was  then  considered 
as  among  the  warmest  patrons  of  a  religious  party,  whose  eminent  piety  no  one 
questions,  who  have,  at  least  for  a  while,  converted  the  Established  Church  into 
the  church  militant,  broken  up  the  dead  calm  in  which  it  had  for  years  reposed, 
and  lashed  its  waves  into  a  tempestuous  foam.  When  I  visited  him,  he  was 
anxious  to  show  the  friend  who  accompanied  me,  and  myself,  his  rosary^  as  he 
termed  it,  where,  in  a  separate  and  extensive  enclosure,  he  was  cultivating  a 
great  variety  of  roses,  with  something  of  the  enthusiasm  which  is  said  to  have 
characterized  the  cultivation  of  tulips  some  years  gone  by.  .  I  could  not  resist  the 
inclination  to  tell  him,  witliout  any  intentional  discourtesy,  that  he  had  been  for 
some  time  suspected  of  certain  heresies,  but  I  hardly  supposed  matters  had  gone 
so  far  with  him  that  he  would  openly  show  his  friends  his  rosary.  He  was  then 
in  the  midst  of  a  religious  war,  if  it  be  not  an  abuse  of  language  to  call  any  sort 
of  war,  or  any  angry  contest  whatever, "  religious,"  and  in  tlie  very  heat  of  the  fight. 
I  could  not  avoid  thinking,  at  the  same  time,  what  a  refreshment  to  tlie  soul, 
as  well  as  to  the  body,  must  it  be  thus  to  retire  from  the  field  of  theological 
controversy,  bristling  with  points  of  angry  dispute,  like  the  bayonets  of  an 
opposing  column  on  a  field  of  battle,  to  the  charming  quiet  and  delightful  occupa- 
tions of  rural  life.  Soothing  it  must  have  been,  to  cease  for  a  while  a  well-nigh 
hopeless  struggle  for  a  perfect  unity  of  opinion,  form,  and  faith,  to  contemplate 
the  infinite  and  harmonious  variety  which  pervades  creation,  and  reflect,  at  the 
same  time,  what  an  abatement  of  utility  and  enjoyment  it  would  have  been,  had 
God  comprehended  all  this  infinite  diversity  in  one,  and  made  all  animals  of  one 
form,  all  vegetables  of  the  same  kind,  and  all  flowers  of  the  same  color  and  fra- 
grance. Though  I  was  far  from  being  willing  to  censure  this  venerable  man  for 
anxiously  and  devoutly  turning  to  the  east,  when  he  recited  the  articles  of  his 
creed,  if  he  deemed  it  important  so  to  do,  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  he  must 
sometimes  turn  his  face  to  the  west,  to  offer  his  evening  sacrifice,  when,  standing 
upon  the  threshold  of  his  door,  he  saw  before  him  the  wide-spread  ocean  glitter- 
ing with  matchless  splendor,  and  the  setting  sun  bathing  in  a  flood  of  glory,  and 
throwing  his  slanting  beams  over,  a  landscape  as  diversified  and  as  beautiful  as, 
within  my  observation,  the  pencil  of  nature  has  delineated. 


358  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

flavor  superior,  to  any  which  I  have  seen  brought  directly  from  their 
own  native  region,  —  for  the  reason,  perhaps,  that  the  latter,  as  is 
understood,  are  gathered  in  a  green  state,  and  are  left  to  ripen  on 
the  passage,  usually  crowded  in  bulk  in  the  hold  of  a  vessel. 
The  grapes  are  magnificent  in  size,  and  delicious  in  taste.  I 
cannot  say  that  there  are  no  native  grapes,  and  none  growing  in 
the  open  air  ;  but  I  do  not  recollect  meeting  with  any.  It  seems 
to  me  to  be  the  humidity  of  the  climate  of  England,  rather  than 
its  low  temperature,  which  prevents  the  ripening  of  many  fruits 
and  plants,  which  can  be  grown  in  an  equally  high  latitude  on 
the  western  continent.  It  remains  to  be  seen  what  will  be  the 
result  of  that  remarkable  system  of  drainage,  which  is  here  pros- 
ecuted in  different  parts  of  the  country  with  great  spirit  and 
resolution,  and  which  bids  fair,  as  soon  as  any  such  great  opera- 
tion can  be  expected  to  be  effected,  to  become  general,  if  not 
universal.  Its  sanatary  effects  upon  the  human,  as  well  as  the 
brute  animal,  are  said  to  be  already  in  some  places  determined. 

The  smaller  fruits  —  such  as  strawberries,  raspberries,  gooseber- 
ries, and  currants  —  are  cultivated  with  great  success.  Of  a  kind 
of  strawberries,  called  the  Alpine  Pine,  and  more  properly  the 
Elton  Pine,  the  size  is  most  remarkable,  ten  of  them,  as  I  saw  in 
the  market  of  Dundee,  where  they  are  cultivated  in  perfection, 
actually  weighing  a  pound  avoirdupois.  I  saw  others  as  large  at 
the  horticultural  exhibitions,  called  by  a  different  name ;  but 
those  were  forced  in  pots  in  greenhouses. 

The  gooseberries  which  I  have  seen  on  private  tables,  and  in 
the  markets,  are  of  a  very  extraordinary  size,  the  purple  varieties 
being  preferred.  I  cannot  learn  that  they  are  as  much  subject, 
as  in  New  England,  to  a  species  of  mildew,  or  bluish  mould, 
which  soon  becomes  black,  and  ruins  the  fruit.  Here  they  are 
always  cultivated  upon  a  single  stem,  in  the  form  of  a  small  tree, 
kept  trimmed  high,  and  entirely  clear  of  all  rubbish  or  weeds  at 
the  bottom.  The  disease,  or  blight,  to  which  I  refer,  is  not  un- 
known here,  but  it  is  not  common  ;  and  the  fruit  is  grown  in  the 
highest  perfection.  This  disease  may  come  from  an  unhealthy 
condition  of  the  soil,  or  the  application  of  improper  manure ;  but 
the  general  and  most  probable  conclusion  is,  that  it  is  atmos- 
pherical. It  has  appeared  to  me,  that  the  climate  of  England, 
where  they  have  far  less  sunshine,  and  much  more  dampness,  than 
in  the  Northern  United  States,  does  not  produce  mould  in  the 


VEGETABLE    AND    FRUIT    MARKETS.  359 

houses  upon  plate,  furniture,  and  books,  so  soon  as  it  does  with 
us,  and  provisions,  both  raw  and  cooked,  appear  "  to  keep  sweet " 
longer.  I  do  not  undertake  to  give  any  scientific  reason  for  this ; 
but  it  seems  probable,  that  it  arises  from  a  more  even  tempera- 
ture, and  the  absence  of  that  intense  heat  which,  with  us,  often 
follows  rain  and  dampness.  The  black  currant  is  almost  as  much 
cultivated  as  the  red  and  white,  and  quite  commonly  eaten. 
Raspberries  are  cultivated  ;  but  I  have  seen  none  to  be  compared 
with  the  fine  kinds  common  in  the  United  States.  Blackberries 
I  have  not  seen  cultivated.  I  have  met  with  them  in  the  south- 
ern parts  of  England,  but  ripening  so  late  in  the  season  that  they 
have  no  richness  of  flavor.* 

Of  plums  there  are  several  kinds :  damsons  are  common ;  the 
Orleans  plum,  the  large  egg-plum,  resembling  what  I  think  is 
called,  with  us,  Bolmar's  Washington,  are  the  most  esteemed  ; 
but  they  are  not  abundant,  and  I  cannot  say  that  those  which  I 
have  seen  are  equal  to  those  seen  in  the  best  markets  of  the 
United  States,  and  especially,  of  all  other  places,  at  Albany,  in 
New  York,  where  this  fruit  is  found  in  a  degree  of  perfection 
and  abundance  which  I  have  seen  nowhere  else.     Cherries  are 

*  I  am  quite  aware  of  the  old  proverb,  "  that  there  should  be  no  dispute  about 
matters  of  taste,"  and  that  it  is  perhaps  quite  too  late  in  the  season  with  myself, 
for  me  to  discuss  these  matters.  I  remember  very  well  when  a  half-grown,  green, 
hard,  sour  apple,  was  as  much  relished  by  me  as  now  a  delicious  Muscat  grape  ; 
but,  alas  !  "  the  times  change,  and  we  change  with  them."  I  will  not  complain. 
To  complain  would  be  ungrateful.  There  are  tastes  for  all  ages,  as  there  are 
fruits  and  flowers  for  all  seasons.  I  thank  God  every  day  of  my  life  for  the  beau- 
tiful world  in  which  he  has  placed  me  ;  but  I  would  not  wish  to  be  always  young, 
any  more  than  I  would  desire  to  be  always  old.  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  sighed 
for  a  perpetual  summer ;  for  nature  every  where  abounds  in  compensations.  I  ex- 
changed the  bright,  sunshiny  days  of  my  own  country  for  the  foggy  and  humid 
climate,  and  the  cloudy  and  weeping  skies,  of  England,  where  sometimes  I  have 
scarcely  seen  the  moon  and  stars  for  a  month,  and  where,  when  the  sun  shows 
himself,  one  seems  to  recognize  an  acquaintance  of  former  times.  But  what  of 
that  ?  Habit  and  use  reconcile  us  to  various  and  ever-changing  circumstances. 
I  have  become  amphibious,  like  a  true  Englishman,  and  take  a  good  wetting 
quite  naturally.  The  moderate  temperature  of  the  climate  has  become  agree- 
able ;  and  even  the  cloudy  skies  seem  better  for  my  eyes  than  the  bright  and 
dazzling  snows  of  New  England,  in  the  clear  days  of  winter.  Age  itself,  if  it 
has  not  the  vivacity  of  youth,  and  is  sometimes  oppressed  with  the  consciousness 
of  having  not  even  half  accomplished  our  duties  and  desires,  brings  with  it  many 
delicious  treasures  of  memory,  which,  like  good  wine,  lose  nothing  of  tlieir  sweet- 
ness by  time  ;  and  hopes,  which  we  would  not  exchange  for  all  the  pleasures  of 
the  whole  of  life's  brightest  summer,  are  daily  approximating  their  fruition. 


360  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

plenty  in  the  market,  and  in  great  perfection  ;  the  Tartarian,  the 
bigarreau,  and  the  large  black-heart  and  mazard,  predominate. 

Peaches,  nectarines,  and  apricots,  are  seen  occasionally  at  pri- 
vate tables ;  and  in  great  perfection,  though  in  very  small  quan- 
tities, at  the  great  market,  and  at  some  of  the  splendid  fruit  shops 
in  London.  Peaches  are  grown  in  favorable  situations  on  open 
walls,  but  in  general  under  glass,  and  early  in  the  season  are 
forced  by  an  artificial  climate.  They  are  brought  to  great  per- 
fection in  appearance,  and  command,  when  first  they  appear  in 
the  market,  two  guineas,  or  about  ten  dollars  and  a  half  per 
dozen,  as  pine-apples  cultivated  here,  at  some  times  of  the  year, 
bring  a  guinea  or  thirty  shillings  sterling  apiece,  —  that  is,  from 
five  and  a  quarter  to  seven  and  a  half  dollars  each ! 

One,  in  such  cases,  ceases  to  have  any  solicitude  to  know 
where  the  peaches  or  the  pines  come  from,  but  is  curious  to 
learn  where  the  guineas  come  from.  To  most  of  us,  however, 
unindoctrinated  in  the  financial  contrivances  and  complex  labor- 
saving  machinery  of  society,  this  inquiry  seems  hopeless,  and 
generally  ends  in  the  conviction  that  wealth  is  very  unequally 
distributed  in  this  world,  without  any  possibility  of  devising  any 
practicable  scheme  for  a  more  even  and  impartial  adjustment. 
Suppose  we  could  at  once  level  all  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and 
produce  a  dead  calm,  and  a  perfectly  even  surface  ;  still  it  would 
seem  that,  while  the  drops  on  the  top  are  glittering  and  radiating 
in  the  sunshine,  a  vast  proportion  of  the  drops  must  be  underneath, 
or  near  the  bottom,  sustaining  those  at  the  top.  The  only  hope  in 
such  case  is  that,  in  the  continual  fluctuations  of  the  whole  mass, 
amid  the  conflicts  of  under-currents  and  upper-currents,  the  spon- 
taneous eflervescence,  and  the  turbulence  of  winds  and  storms,  the 
lowest  may  often  be  brought  to  the  surface,  and  the  uppermost  de- 
scend, and  this  continual  change  of  place  and  position  may  give 
to  all,  in  the  long  run,  an  equal  chance.*     This  analogy,  perhaps, 

*  It  is  by  no  means  the  case,  I  am  aware,  that  the  low  position  is  always  to  be 
commiserated.  The  place  of  humble  obscurity  is,  in  general  at  least,  the  place 
of  safety,  and  is  quiet  and  peaceful,  while  the  surface  is  swept  and  disturbed  by 
the  violence  of  every  storm.  There  is  a  measure  of  selfishness  and  narrowness 
in  the  conception  of  a  charming  poet,  which  is  not  to  be  approved,  when,  in  the 
tones  of  pity  and  complaint,  he  says,  — 

^'  Full  many  a  flower  is  born  to  blush  unseen, 
And  waste  its  sweetness  on  the  desert  air ;  " 

as  if  the  beauties  of  nature  were  made  only  for  man's  eyes,  and  as  if  the  hum- 


VEGETABLE    AND 'FRUIT    MARKETS.  361 

can  scarcely  be  said  to  apply  to  a  country,  where  the  masses  of 
wealth  are  the  accumulations  of  centuries,  and  are  fortified  and 
hedged  in  by  the  strong  iron  fences  and  the  bristling  chevaux-de- 
frise  of  laws  of  entail  and  rights  of  primogeniture.  It  may 
serve  better  to  illustrate  a  condition  of  society  like  that  in  the 
United  States,  where  the  paths  of  competition  in  the  various 
departments  of  life  are  equally  open  to  all  —  the  condition  of  the 
laws  and  the  habits  of  the  country  favor  the  more  equal  distribu- 
tion of  wealth,  and  seem  to  forbid  any  extraordinary  perma- 
nency to  any  large  accumulations.  Which  condition  is  to  be 
preferred,  my  reader  must  determine  for  himself 

The  luxury  in  which  the  higher  and  wealthier  classes  in  Eng- 
land live  is,  probably,  unequalled  in  any  country,  and  is,  per- 
haps, not  surpassed  in  the  history  of  Roman  grandeur  or  Oriental 
magnificence.  They  expend,  whether  willing  or  unwilling, 
with  a  profusion  which  it  is  difficult  for  those  of  us  brought  up 
in  the  school  of  restricted  and  humble  means  to  understand ;  and 
in  respect  to  true  liberality,  there  is  probably  the  same  diversity 
of  disposition  and  character  to  be  found  as  among  those,  who, 
instead  of  dispensing  guineas,  are  obliged  to  keep  their  reckoning 
in  pence  and  farthings.  I  do  not  forget  that  excessive  wealth,  as 
well  as  extreme  penury,  have  each  their  peculiar  moral  dangers. 
But  the  liberal  expenditures  of  the  rich,  even  upon  many  articles 
of  pure  luxury,  are  a  great  public  benefit.  Certainly,  no  immoral 
indulgence  is  ever  to  be  justified  or  excused.  I  do  not  say  that 
it  is  the  best  appropriation  of  the  money ;  that  point  I  shall  not 
now  discuss  ;  but  certainly  the  person,  who  gives  his  two  guineas 
for  his  dozen  of  peaches,  encourages  industry,  rewards  horticul- 
tural skill,  stimulates  improvement,  excites  a  wholesome  compe- 
tition, and  would,  surely,  be  doing  much  worse  with  them  if  he 
kept  them  parsimoniously  and  uselessly  hoarded  in  his  coffers. 

The  apples,  in  England,  are  in  general  inferior,  excepting  for 
cooking  purposes.  The  superiority  of  our  Newton  pippin  is 
every  where  admitted  and  proclaimed.  Of  other  of  our  fine  ap- 
ples,—  such  as  the  golden  russet,  the  Baldwin,  the  blue  pearmain, 
and  many  others,  —  I  have  seen  none,  though  it  is  not  to  be  confi- 

blest  flower  did  Hot  perform  its  proper  part  in  purifying  the  air,  the  great  element 
of  life  to  all  animated  existence,  and  regale  many  a  sentient  being  by  its  fra- 
grance, and  feed  myriads  upon  its  leaves,  and  yield  to  many  a  busy  insect  the 
precious  honey  from  its  expanded  bosom. 
31 


362  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

dently  inferred,  from  that  circumstance,  that  none  are  imported. 
Large  quantities  of  apples  are  sent  from  the  United  States  to 
England,  and  sold  to  advantage.* 

The  English  have  not  yet  learned  the  value  of  apples  as  food 
for  stock.  Many  of  the  farmers  in  the  United  States,  after 
repeated  trials,  both  for  fatting  swine,  for  neat  stock,  and  even 
for  milch  cows,  rate  them  in  value  in  the  proportion  of  three 
bushels  of  apples  as  equal  to  two  of  potatoes.  There  are  many 
parts  of  England,  where  apples  might  be  cultivated  to  advantage 
for  this  very  purpose,  where  the  finest  kinds  might  not  ripen, 
but  where  the  inferior  sorts  would  be  likely  to  yield  abundantly. 
There  are  many  hedgerows  where  they  would  grow  to  advan- 
tage •  and  they  certainly  might  be  substituted,  without  loss  to 
beauty,  and  with  a  clear  gain  to  utility,  for  many  thorn-trees, 
ash-trees,  and  others,  which  now  stand  in  the  parks  and  open 
grounds  of  the  country. 

Of  pears  I  have  seen  several  good  kinds,  but  none  comparable 
to  the  Seckle  or  the  Bartlett.  This,  however,  may  be  mere 
matter  of  personal  taste.  Melons  are  grown  only  under  glass, 
and  by  artificial  heat.  The  English  walnut  grows  abundantly, 
and  is  used  both  dried  and  for  pickling ;  and  chestnuts  are  plen- 
tiful. The  common  shagbark,  or  hickory  nut,  I  have  not  met 
with,  though  it  is  sometimes  imported.  Filberts  are  cultivated 
in  the  county  of  Kent  for  the  market,  on  a  gravelly  soil,  where 
they  are  raised  on  small  bushes,  or  trees  with  one  stem,  and  suf- 
fered to  grow  not  more  than  five  or  six  feet  high.  They  grow 
together  on  the  same  ground  with  hops,  and  pear  or  apple-trees  ; 
and  the  proportionate  number  of  each  to  an  acre,  is  stated  at 
800  hills  of  hops,  200  filberts,  and  40  apple  or  pear-trees.     ''  The 

*  Small  adventures  sent  in  this  way,  as  presents  from  friends  to  friends,  are 
oflen  so  badly  packed  at  home,  and  so  adroitly  unpacked  on  the  passage,  and 
withal,  are  taxed  with  such  a  variety  of  charges  in  the  transit,  that  one  is  com- 
pelled, from  bitter  experience,  to  give  up  a  much  greater  pleasure  than  that  of 
eating  the  fine  fruit  —  the  pleasure  of  enabling  one's  friends  to  eat  it.  The  Chris- 
tians, as  we  are  called,  have,  at  least  many  of  them,  very  little  honesty,  and,  one 
would  be  half  inclined  to  think,  live  upon  a  system  of  piracy,  or  privateering,  or 
reprisals,  among  themselves.  The  Turks  have  more ;  for  all  travellers  assert  that 
what  is  intrusted  to  their  keeping,  under  a  pledge  of  fidelity,  is  sure  to  be  held 
sacred.  The  violator  of  such  a  trust,  upon  conviction,  would  be  likely  to  find 
himself  a  head  shorter.  But  then  the  Christians  have  a  great  deal  more,  and  a 
truer,  faith ;  and  afler  all,  common  honesty  is  a  very  homely  virtue,  which  any 
body  can  practise  if  he  would. 


VEGETABLE    AND    FRUIT    MARKETS.  363 

hops  are  said  to  last  twelve  years,  the  filberts  thirty,  and  after 
that,  the  apples  and  pears  require  the  whole  ground." 

The  vegetables  grown  for  table  use  are  many  of  them  in 
appearance  of  the  finest  kinds.  The  potatoes  grown  in  England 
are  in  general  of  a  superior  quality,  though  I  think  them  inferior 
to  the  potatoes  grown  in  Nova  Scotia.  In  Nova  Scotia,  they 
have  not  only  the  advantage  of  a  climate  as  cool  as  that  of 
England,  but  likewise  of  a  virgin  soil,  which  circumstances 
seem  particularly  favorable  both  to  the  growtli  and  the  quality 
of  the  potato  j  and  nothing  of  the  kind,  which  I  have  ever  eaten, 
is  equal  to  a  fine  Nova  Scotia  potato.  In  our  old  soils,  sur- 
charged with  manure,  the  potatoes  are  always  inferior  in  quality. 
In  Ireland,  deemed  of  all  other  countries  the  adopted  home  of 
the  potato,  I  was  seldom  able  to  find  one  that  was  even  eatable. 
This  arose,  however,  not  from  the  quality  of  the  root,  but  from 
the  mode  of  cooking  —  the  Irish  always  desiring,  to  use  their  own 
expression,  "to  have  a  stone  in  the  middle  ;  "  so  that  the  aim  of 
the  cook  was  only  to  boil,  or  rather  scald,  the  outside  of  the 
potato,  and  leave  the  inside  as  hard  as  when  it  went  into  the 
pot.  The  advantage  of  this,  as  gravely  stated  to  me,  was  that 
they  were  longer  in  digestion,  and  therefore  gave  more  support. 
This  may  be  sound  philosophy  in  Ireland,  where  the  stomachs 
of  the  poor  find  an  equal  difficulty  in  getting,  as  they  do  in 
keeping  what  they  get.  It  would  be  inhuman  to  treat  the 
extreme  destitution  of  these  poor  wretches  Avith  any  levity ;  but 
I  found  this  mode  of  cooking  prevailing  also  at  the  tables  of  the 
rich  and  noble ;  and  after  seeing  such  an  abuse  of  one  of  the 
most  useful  and  nutritious  plants  which  come  out  of  the  earth, 
I  was  half  inclined  to  advise  them  to  try  a  few  granite  pebbles 
of  a  size  to  pass  through  a  McAdam  ring,  and  see  whether  they 
would  not  serve  the  digestive  organs  still  longer.  It  was  a 
curiosity  to  me  in  London,  likewise,  to  see  them  selling  in  the 
market,  by  the  quart,  the  small,  not  half-grown,  not  quarter- 
grown  potatoes,  not  even  so  large  as  cherries,  and  many  not 
larger  than  peas  ;  and  these  were  bought  up  as  luxuries.  I 
should  quite  as  soon  think  of  sitting  down  to  a  dish  of  boiled 
bullets,  or  duck-shot ;  and  I  should  suppose  with  almost  equal 
chance  of  nourishment.  If  it  were  such  potatoes  only,  at  which 
Cobbett  launched  his  anathemas,  one  would  not  be  surprised  at 
his  indignation. 


364 


EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 


It  is  a  very  great  point  to  bring  the  earliest  potatoes  into  the 
market,  and  I  have  seen  them  offered  in  Covent  Garden  Market 
as  early  as  March.  Indeed,  by  a  method  which  I  will  presently 
explain,  there  would  be  little  difficulty  in  having  them  at  the 
coming  in  of  the  new  year.  In  Penzance,  in  Cornwall,  at  the 
very  south  of  England,  where  there  are  some  parcels  of  most 
excellent  soil,  and  great  skill  in  its  cultivation,  where  the  winter 
is  open  and  the  climate  very  mild,  and  where,  for  this  purpose, 
land  is  let  at  twenty  pounds,  or  one  hundred  dollars  per  acre, 
large  supplies  of  early  vegetables,  potatoes  especially,  are  raised 
for  the  London  markets.  In  this  case,  they  are  sprouted  under 
and  upon  warm  horse-dung,  or  under  glass ;  and  are  planted  as 
early  as  February,  and  carefully  attended,  pains  being  taken  to 
select  the  earliest  kinds.  The  mode  of  sprouting  them  in  this 
case  is  similar  to  that  adopted  by  the  excellent  and  spirited  cul- 
tivators at  West  Cambridge,  near  Boston,  where  the  sets  are 
started,  under  a  bed  of  fresh  horse-dung,  on  the  sunny  and  pro- 
tected side  of  a  hill. 

I  will  here  quote  the  directions  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Knight, 
president  of  the  Horticultural  Society,  for  raising  early  potatoes  ; 
which,  it  is  obvious,  can  be  applicable  only  to  our  mild  and  south- 
ern latitudes,  where  the  winters  are  open. 

''  Drills  may  be  formed  in  a  warm  and  sheltered  situation,  and 
in  the  direction  of  north  and  south,  during  any  of  the  winter 
months,  two  feet  apart,  and  seven  or  eight  inches  deep.  Stable- 
dung,  half  decomposed,  should  be  laid  in  the  drills,  and  com- 
bined with  the  earth  four  inches  downwards,  and  covered  with 
some  of  the  mould  which  had  been  thrown  out  in  forming  the 
drills,  by  the  rake,  to  within  four  inches  of  the  surface.  The 
sets  uncut  are  then  to  be  placed,  with  the  crgwn-eye  uppermost, 
in  the  centre  of  the  furrow,  four  inches  from  each  other,  and  to 
be  covered  with  only  an  inch  of  mould  at  first,  and  afterwards 
with  an  occasional  quantity  of  sifted  ashes,  until  the  plants  are 
so  vigorous  and  advanced  as  to  require  the  usual  earthing,  of 
which,  however,  very  little  is  necessary."  Mr.  Knight  also  used 
leaves  as  a  lining  at  the  side  of  the  drills,  in  the  early  periods,  to 
preserve  as  much  warmth  as  possible,  and  better  to  guard  against 
the  effects  of  frost.  The  soil  in  this  case  should  be  light  and 
dry,  and  not  tenacious  of  water.  It  is  recommended  by  some 
gardeners,  early  in  the  season,  to  lay  the  sets  upon  a  floor  in  a 


VEGETABLE    AND    FRUIT    MARKETS.  365 

warm  room,  and  occasionally  sprinkle  them  with  water,  which 
will  cause  them  to  germinate.  As  soon  as  they  have  sprouted, 
cover  them  with  some  finely-sifted  mould ;  and  the  sets  will  be 
ready  for  transplanting  at  the  earliest  period. 

Another  mode  of  obtaining  early  potatoes,  not  7ieio  potatoes, 
which  is,  I  am  told,  sometimes  practised,  is  to  plant  potatoes 
only  so  early  in  the  season,  as  that  they  shall  be  about  half- 
grown  at  the  usual  time  of  taking  them  up.  These  may  be 
taken  up  in  the  autumn,  and  replaced  in  earth;  and  early  in 
the  succeeding  spring  they  may  be  sold  as  new  potatoes.  I 
should  be  sorry,  by  any  account  of  the  deceptions  and  tricks 
practised  in  this  old  country,  to  be  in  any  degree  instrumental 
in  corrupting  the  simplicity  and  true-heartedness  of  any  of  my 
own  countrymen,  who,  good  souls,  may  possibly  never  have 
heard  of  any  such  thing  as  trick  or  deception  !  but  excepting 
the  lie  in  this  case,  the  potatoes  would  be  quite  as  good  as  the 
half-grown,   waxy,   new  potatoes  usually  brought   to   market.* 

Potatoes  are  sold  in  the  market  by  weight,  fourteen  pounds 
constituting  a  stone  weight ;  in  Ireland,  a  stone  of  potatoes 
weighs  sixteen  pounds.  In  Ireland,  the  crop  is  measured  by 
barrels,  and  an  acre  of  ground  is  stated  to  have  yielded  so  many 
barrels.  Then  the  Irish  acre  differs  very  much  from  the  English 
statute  acre,  being,  I  think,  the  former  compared  with  the  latter, 
as  196  to  121,  or  nearly  5  to  3.  A  barrel  of  potatoes  in  Ireland 
may  contain  five,  or  only  three  bushels,  and  the  weight  of  the 
bushel  of  potatoes  is  not  determined,  though  customarily  esti- 
mated at  56  pounds.  Few  beans  are  cultivated  for  the  table, 
excepting  the  Windsor  bean,  which  is  a  coarse  vegetable ;  and  a 
small  bean,  used  like  our  string  beans,  and  called  the  French 
bean.  Our  Lima  bean,  and  other  rich  pole-beans,  I  have  not 
met  with.  Peas  are  abundant  in  market,  are  brought  in  early, 
and  continued  late,  and  are  of  several  diff*erent  kinds,  the  Charl- 
ton pea  (so  called  from  the  town  where  the  earliest  peas  are 

*  Nor.  if  they  should  be  tempted  to  practise  any  such  fraud,  will  I  go  so  far  as 
to  recommend  them,  by  way  of  encouragement  or  consolation,  to  read  the  chapter 
on  Lying,  in  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy  ;  nor,  above  all,  that  celebrated  treatise  of 
the  same  exquisite  master  in  casuistry,  that  perfect  anodyne  for  weak  consciences, 
the  Letter  on  Subscription,  in  which  he  shows,  with  admirable  skill,  in  how  many 
different  ways  an  honest  man  may  subscribe  the  thirty-nine  articles  of  the  church 
without  believing  one  of  them. 
31* 


366  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

grown)  being  preferred  as  an  early  pea.  In  order  to  bring  peas 
to  early  maturity,  or  rather  to  a  state  for  sale,  a  ridge  of  land  or 
high  furrow  is  thrown  up  in  a  direction  from  east  to  west,  and 
the  peas  are  planted  on  the  south  side  of  this  ridge  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  furrow.  In  this  way  the  young  plants  are  protected 
from  the  cold  winds  on  one  side,  and  enjoy  the  warm  rays  of  the 
sun  reflected  on  the  other.  This  is  a  simple  and  excellent 
arrangement,  especially  in  a  climate  where  we  may  say,  with 
some  truth,  that  a  handful  of  sunshine  is  worth  much  more  than 
its  weight  in  gold. 

Carrots  and  turnips  are  of  the  finest  quality,  and  always  sold 
in  bunches.  The  orange  carrot  seems  preferred  for  the  table  ; 
the  Belgian  white  for  stock.  Onions  are  generally  eaten  small. 
They  are  planted  early  in  the  autumn,  and  gathered  in  July  and 
August.  Spinach,  endive,  cresses,  lettuces,  are  always  in  the 
martlet,  either  forced  or  grown  in  the  open  ground.  Blood- 
beets  I  have  scarcely  seen,  either  in  the  markets  or  on  table, 
unless  pickled  in  vinegar.  The  fine  egg-plant,  so  common  in  the 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  markets,  does  not  appear  to  be 
known  here.  That  most  luscious  vegetable,  the  sweet  potato, 
of  course  cannot  be  grown.  I  have  once  seen  some  for  sale  at  a 
shop  window,  and,  thinking  I  would  indulge  in  a  reminiscence 
of  home,  I  found,  on  weighing,  at  the  price  asked,  a  single  potato 
would  be  I5.  6c?.  or  37J  cents.  Of  course  it  ended  in  inquiry ; 
and  I  was  obliged  to  be  satisfied  with  other  forms  of  remem- 
brance. Of  squashes,  they  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  any. 
They  have  a  very  inferior  kind,  which  they  dignify  with  the 
name  of  vegetable  marrow ;  but  of  our  fine  crook-neck  and 
Canada  squashes,  or  our  autumnal  vegetable  marrow,  nothing 
is  seen,  and  their  excellence  cannot  be  appreciated  without  being 
tasted.  Of  our  delicious  green  Indian  corn,  of  course  they  have 
none.  Cucumbers  are  always  in  the  market.  In  the  early  part 
of  the  season,  they  are  forced ;  in  the  latter  part  of  the  season, 
they  grow  out  of  doors.  Every  possible  pains  is  taken  to 
protect  their  plants,  as  may  be  seen  by  the  hundreds  of  hand- 
glass frames  and  bass  mattings  which  are  to  be  found  in  every 
extensive  vegetable  garden. 

There  are  four  species  of  plants,  or  edible  vegetables,  in  which, 
it  must  be  admitted,  the  English  markets  cannot  be  surpassed, 
at  least  in   the  size  of  their  products.      They   are   asparagus. 


VEGETABLE    AND    FRUIT    MARKETS.  367 

rhubarb,  cauliflowers,  and  cabbages.  The  asparagus  and 
rhubarb  are  gigantic,  the  rhubarb  more  especially,  which  is 
often  brought  to  market  three  and  four  feet  in  length,  and  of  the 
size  of  a  woman's  arm  —  some  women  of  course  excepted.  The 
early  asparagus  is  forced  under  glass ;  the  later  is  forced  in  the 
open  ground  by  all  the  appliances  of  manure.  The  quantity  of 
rhubarb  consumed  is  enormous,  for  it  comes  not  in  baskets,  but 
piled  up  in  four-horse  wagons  in  bulk.  The  asparagus  shows 
the  want  of  sun,  and  appears  as  if  grown  in  a  cellar,  the  mere 
head  of  the  early  kinds  being  the  only  part  eatable.  I  think 
Cobbett  somewhere  says,  that  ''  the  English  do  not  know  how 
to  eat  asparagus,  for  they  always  begin  at  the  white  end."  I 
have  not  myself  observed  among  them  any  remarkable  deficiency 
of  gastronomical  science  ;  but  certainly,  in  this  case,  they  have 
not  far  to  go  to  find  a  white  end.  Sea-kale  or  Scotch  kale  is 
very  much  eaten  early  in  the  season.  It  is  blanched  under  cover, 
and  is  a  delicious  vegetable,  that  is,  for  those  whose  taste  agrees 
with  mine.  The  Jerusalem  artichoke  seems  a  favorite  vege- 
table with  most  persons.* 

One  of  the  principal  vegetables  found  in  the  market,  and  this 
at  all  seasons,  is  cauliflower ;  and  it  is  certainly  grown  here  in 
perfection.  They  are  sown,  for  the  next  year's  use,  some  time  in 
August,  in  hotbeds,  and  are  transplanted  into  the  open  ground  in 
February.  They,  of  course,  before  being  transplanted,  are  cul- 
tivated under  glass,  and  for  some  time  after  they  require  protec- 
tion. They  are  a  frequent,  and  almost  an  invariable  dish  at 
well-furnished  tables.  Cabbages  likewise  are  brought  into  the 
market   with  a  profusion  absolutely   astounding,    which   itself 

*  In  this  case  I  am  in  the  minority.  I  have  not  studied  under  Mrs.  Briggs,  or 
Dr.  Kitchener,  or  I  would  inform  my  readers  how  they  are  cooked.  Under  mod- 
ern refinements,  meats,  and  vegetables,  and  fruits,  come  to  table  as  much  dis- 
^ised,  as  were  men  and  women  at  the  late  bal-costume  of  the  queen,  when  nothing 
nearer  than  engages  or  attaches  knew  each  other,  —  and  that,  either  by  magnetic 
clairvoyance  or  previous  arrangement ;  and  it  is  said,  (I  do  not  vouch  for  its  truth,) 
some  nobleman  addressed  his  valet  as  "  my  lord  ; "  and  some  gentlemen,  like  the 
Smithfield  drovers  in  penning  their  cattle  at  night,  as  I  have  described,  had  to 
look  carefully  for  some  private  mark,  to  be  sure  that  they  had  got  their  own  wives 
to  carry  home  with  them.  I  would  not  insinuate  that  the  English  wives,  exem- 
plary as  they  are  for  their  fidelity,  were  not  as  anxious  to  be  found,  as  their  hus- 
bands were  to  find  tliem.  Sometimes  I  agree  in  a  remark,  often  quoted  by  per- 
sons who  are  not  very  abstemious  in  the  use  of  strong  language,  that  "  Heaven 
sends  us  meats,  but" 1  had  rather  not  say  who " sends  us  cooks." 


368  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

shows  how  much  they  are  eaten.  One  would  be  disposed  to 
consider  them  as  the  favorite  vegetable  of  the  English.  The 
early  ones  of  course  are  forced  in  hotbeds  and  transplanted ; 
and  a  constant  succession  is  kept  up.  I  have  sometimes  seen  in 
the  market,  at  one  time,  very  early  in  the  morning,  many  large 
four-horse  wagon-loads  of  cabbages,  lettuces,  and  rhubarb,  all 
distinct,  and  piled  up  in  the  most  beautiful  manner,  with  a  pre- 
cision which  is  admirable ;  and  when  I  have  had  the  curiosity 
to  inquire  how  many  heads  of  cabbage  were  on  a  single  load, 
the  answer  has  been,  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  dozen. 

The  celery  brought  into  market  is,  like  the  rhubarb,  gigantic. 
The  solid-stalked  is  greatly  preferred.  It  is  finely  blanched.  It 
is  not  so  agreeable  for  eating  as  a  smaller-sized  plant,  but  it 
shows  the  perfection  of  cultivation.  The  celery,  like  the 
rhubarb  and  the  lettuce,  is  brought  into  market  in  the  neatest 
manner.  Nothing  is  tumbled  into  the  carts,  or  thrown  out  upon 
the  ground  topsy-turvy,  or  indiscriminately.  Even  the  heads  of 
lettuce  are  every  one  of  them  tied  with  a  string  of  bass  matting ; 
and  when  presented  in  the  stalls,  the  various  articles  are  arranged 
with  great  care  —  I  may  add,  with  taste,  and  a  view  to  effect. 

In  looking  down  from  the  high  bridge,  in  Edinburgh,  upon  the 
vegetable  and  fruit  market  below,  and  observing  the  arrangement 
of  the  different  articles  in  the  stalls,  the  intermingling  of  the 
white  cauliflowers  with  the  purple  cabbages,  the  orange  carrots, 
the  yellow  turnips,  and  the  red  beets,  and  other  articles  of 
various  hues,  like  the  colors  in  a  Turkey  carpet,  the  effect  is 
really  picturesque  and  beautiful.  I  have  gazed  at  them  repeat- 
edly with  much  pleasure.  The  same  remarks  apply  to  the 
arrangements  in  the  London  markets.  I  know  some  will  say, 
What  is  the  use  of  all  this  ?  I  have  just  given  the  answer.  It 
gave  me,  and  it  gives  others,  pleasure.  That  is  reason  enough, 
if  there  were  no  other.  I  think  in  this  respect  we  have  a  good 
deal  to  learn.  There  is  a  natural  concord  or  harmony  among  all 
the  senses,  and  the  stomach  seems  better  satisfied  when  that 
which  enters  it  gives  pleasure  to  the  eye.  Suppose  that  our 
fine  rare-ripe  peaches  were  a  dingy  black,  instead  of  presenting, 
as  they  now  do,  a  sample  of  that  most  lovely  and  perfect  inter- 
mingling of  colors  to  be  found  in  nature  —  such  as  the  soft  blend- 
ing of  red  and  white  in  the  leaf  of  the  damask  rose,  or,  in  a  still 
more  radiant  form,  on  the  cheek  of  virgin  beauty  and  innocence ; 


VEGETABLE    AND    FRUIT    MARKETS.  369 

I  think  in  such  case  we  should  eat  them  with  a  far  inferici 
relish. 

Grapes  of  the  very  finest  description  are  produced  in  England, 
but  wholly,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  by  artificial  culture. 
This,  of  course,  places  them  beyond  the  reach  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  people ;  but  they  are  always  found  on  the  tables  of  the 
wealthy  and  noble.  In  the  stalls  of  Covent  Garden  Market,  they 
present  themselves  in  such  a  rich  and  luscious  display,  as  to 
tempt  a  visitor  to  break  at  least  one  of  the  commandments  ;  and, 
if  it  were  not  for  the  plate  glass,  which  protects  them,  it  might 
be,  another  also.  This  interposition  is  certainly  humane,  as  a 
violation  of  the  latter  commandment  referred  to,  under  the  lynx- 
eyed  system  of  espionage  necessarily  practised  here,  might  place 
one  in  an  awkward  position.  The  violation  of  the  command- 
ment of  not  coveting  what  we  cannot  possess,  must  be  settled  in 
another  court.  I  can  only  hope  that  human  weakness  will  be 
considered ;  for,  in  passing  from  one  part  of  London  to  the  other, 
and  among  the  shops  crowded  with  the  splendid  productions  o\' 
nature,  refined  and  embellished  by  the  highest  art  and  skill,  with 
all  the  means  of  sensual  gratification,  with  every  thing  to  min- 
ister to  luxurious  indulgence,  to  feed  the  animal  appetite,  and 
the  often  more  hungry  intellect,  and  to  delight  and  gratify  the 
fastidious  and  cultivated  taste,  it  requires  a  most  rigid  self-control, 
so  far  as  our  desires  are  concerned,  to  keep  the  peace,  from  day 
to  day,  with  one's  own  conscience. 

One  of  the  best  gardeners  in  England  has  given  me  some 
instructions  on  the  management  of  grapes,  which  some  of  my 
readers  may  be  glad  to  receive :  — 

"With  regard  to  the  best  way  to  manage  the  vine,  when 
fruiting,  I  invariably  stop  the  shoot  one  eye  above  the  bunch ; 
and  it  is  the  practice  of  the  best  gardeners  in  England.  I  gen- 
erally leave  one  shoot  not  stopped  without  fruit,  and  to  fruit  next 
season,  and  cut  the  shoots  out  that  have  borne  fruit  this  year. 
On  the  short-spur  system,  every  shoot  is  stopped  an  eye  above 
the  bunch,  except  the  top  one,  and  then  it  must  be  managed  like 
the  rest ;  all  the  lateral  shoots  must  be  stopped  one  eye  above 
another,  until  they  cease  growing,  as,  the  more  leaves  you  get,  the 
fruit  will  swell  larger." 

I  should  add  more  on  the  cultivation  of  this  delicious  fruit, 
but  I  know  it  is  very  well  understood  in  the  United  States,, 


370  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

where  the  best  grapes  grown  are  not,  within  my  knowledge, 
surpassed  for  size,  abundance,  and  flavor.  So,  at  least,  I  thought 
them  before  I  left  home ;  but  in  my  long  exile,  in  order  to  keep 
down  a  dreadful  homesickness  that  sometimes  makes  sleep 
almost  as  much  a  stranger  to  my  pillow  as  though  it  was  stufi'ed 
with  McAdam's  angular  stones,  I  try  to  think,  like  the  fox  in  the 
fable,  that  the  American  grapes  are  sour.  But  I  cannot  do  it. 
Afi'ections,  which  no  time  nor  distance  can  quench  or  abate, 
defy  every  such  idle  efl'ort ;  and  memory  returns,  with  all  its 
sensibilities  quickened,  and  all  its  delicious  colorings  heightened 
and  embellished,  to  triumph  over  the  impotence  of  the  reso- 
lution. 

There  is  another  article  abounding  in  the  markets  here,  which, 
though  by  no  means  unknown  in  the  markets  of  the  United 
States,  is  not  common ;  and  therefore,  from  the  same  intelligent 
gardener,  I  shall  give  the  best  account  I  could  obtain  of  the  mode 
of  cultivating  them.  I  mean,  mushrooms.  There  are  few  exten- 
sive gardens  without  a  mushroom-house,  which  is  a  dark  room 
fitted  up  with  shelves,  and  with  the  means  of  producing  the 
desired  temperature. 

•^  The  cultivation  of  mushrooms  in  the  winter  months,  in 
order  to  have  a  daily  supply,  requires  a  house  for  the  purpose. 
The  house  at  Welbeck  is  divided  into  four  tiers  of  shelves, 
three  shelves  in  each  tier.  The  shelves  are  ten  inches  deep, 
[that  is,  a  sort  of  boxes,  like  the  berths  on  board  ship.  — H.  C] 

"  The  first  three  shelves  are  generally  filled  about  the  begin- 
ning of  September,  as  the  field  mushrooms  begin  to  go  out  then. 
The  material  used  to  fill  the  shelves  is  pure  horse-dung  drop- 
pings, without  any  straw.  It  is  suffered  to  ferment  a  little  before 
being  put  in,  and  beaten  quite  hard  with  a  wooden  mallet.  As 
soon  as  the  heat  decreases  to  65°  by  the  thermometer,  or  ascer- 
tained by  a  piece  of  wood  thrust  in,  to  see  that  the  burning  heat 
is  gone  off",  the  bed  may  be  spawned,  by  opening  holes  two 
inches  deep  in  the  dung,  and  putting  in  bits  of  spawn  about  the 
size  of  a  walnut,  nine  inches  each  way,  all  over  the  bed.  It  is 
then  covered  with  two  or  three  inches  of  good  fresh  loam  from 
a  pasture  field.  If  a  little  road-scrapings  is  added  to  the  loam,  it 
helps  to  bind  it,  which  is  important,  as  a  great  deal  of  the  success 
of  the  crop  depends  on  the  soil  and  dung  being  incorporated  into 
one  solid  mass,  not  liable  to  crack,  or  get  too  dry.     The  soil 


VEGETABLE    AND    FRUIT    MARKETS.  3T1 

must  be  beaten  with  the  mallet,  like  the  dung,  quite  smooth  and 
hard  all  over.  In  eight  days  after  spawning,  the  bed  will  be 
covered  with  a  whitish  substance,  which  shows  that  the  spawn 
is  running  all  through  it,  and  that  the  heat  is  right. 

^'  Mushrooms  generally  appear  in  six  weeks  after  making  the 
bed,  if  the  temperature  of  the  house  is  kept  from  55^  to  60°. 
They  are  very  impatient  of  too  much  water;  and  water  is 
required  to  be  put  on  them  only  with  a  fine  watering-pot  rose ; 
and  that  when  the  bed  gets  dry ;  and  it  should  be  always  of  the 
same  temperature  as  the  house,  or  it  chills  all  the  young  ones, 
and  the  crop  never  lasts  so  long.  If  hot-water  pipes  are  used  to 
heat  the  house,  there  is  no  occasion  for  watering.  We  generally 
make  fresh  beds  every  month,  to  keep  up  a  succession  all 
through  the  year,  excepting  the  months  they  come  naturally  in 
the  open  fields. 

"■  Mushrooms  may  be  grown  in  winter  in  a  dark  cellar,  where 
there  is  no  artificial  heat,  by  covering  the  top  of  the  ridges,  or 
box,  with  good  dry  hay,  at  least  ten  inches  thick.  They  will 
not  come  in  so  quickly  as  in  a  house  kept  at  a  steady  temper- 
ature, but  will  keep  in  bearing  a  great  deal  longer,  so  that  one 
good  bed  will  last  all  through.  As  a  good  deal  of  the  success  of 
growing  mushrooms  depends  on  the  goodness  of  the  spawn,  it  is 
necessary  to  get  it  from  some  respectable  nurserymen,  who  gen- 
erally sell  it  in  the  shape  of  bricks.  Its  quality  may  easily  be 
ascertained,  if  good,  by  breaking  it,  and  seeing  it  full  of  white 
threads,  and  the  smell  is  exactly  like  a  mushroom.  If  it  smells 
musty,  it  has  lost  its  vegetative  powers.  It  will  keep  good  for  a 
year  or  two,  if  kept  dry,  and  out  of  the  power  of  frost.  The 
best  is  made  in  London  about  Battersea,  where  many  cows  and 
horses  are  pastured  in  the  fields.  The  old  droppings  are  taken 
from  the  surface  where  the  natural  mushrooms  grow,  and  mixed 
with  fresh  horse-dung,  and  cut  into  the  shape  of  bricks.  There 
is  always  good  spawn  in  the  old  beds,  which  may  be  preserved 
to  put  into  new  ones." 

I  have  gone  thus  fully  into  this,  as  it  may  appear  to  some, 
unimportant  subject,  because,  as  a  vegetable,  this  plant  is  es- 
teemed a  great  delicacy  ,*  and  next,  because  of  the  great  quan- 
tities of  ketchup  which  are  used,  and  which  may  be  manufac- 
tured in  the  country,  and  of  which  mushrooms  are  the  principal 
material. 


372 


EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 


Pines,  or  pine-apples,  are,  as  I  have  remarked,  cultivated  to  a 
large  extent,  and  with  the  greatest  success,  in  the  hot-houses  of 
the  affluent,  where  fire  heat  is  employed ;  but  in  Cambridge- 
shire I  found  them  cultivated,  with  great  success,  in  common 
hotbeds.  The  beds  were  formed  in  the  usual  way ;  and  in 
order  to  keep  up  the  heat,  or  renew  it  when  it  declined,  addi- 
tional supplies  of  fresh  stable  manure  were  applied,  from  time  to 
time,  to  the  sides  of  the  bed.  The  plants  were  healthy,  and 
fruited  well ;  and  so  far  as  the  quality  of  the  fruit  goes  to  ap- 
prove the  mode  of  growing,  I  will  say,  on  my  own  knowledge, 
better  need  not  be  desired. 

I  have  one  remark  to  make  in  regard  to  English  vegetables 
and  fruits,  that  will  not,  I  hope,  be  deemed  ill-humored,  —  which 
is,  that,  though  cultivated  with  extraordinary  skill,  with  the 
exceptions  I  have  above  named,  they  are  tasteless,  and  without 
that  fine  relish  which  one  would  like  to  find.  I  think  it  is 
Voltaire  who  says  ''  that  the  only  ripe  fruit  to  be  found  in  Eng- 
land is  a  baked  apple."  I  cannot  accede  to  a  censure  so  sweep- 
ing ;  but  it  is  plain  that  their  fruits  and  vegetables  want  ripeness 
and  flavor.  This  may  arise  partly  from  a  deficiency  of  heat 
from  the  sun,  and  partly  from  the  excessive  forcing  of  their 
vegetables,  in  the  vicinity  of  large  markets,  by  unlimited  quan- 
tities of  manure.  I  know  how  difficult  it  must  be  to  make  an 
Englishman  believe  this  statement :  for  under  the  national 
peculiarity  of  a  large  endowment  of  self-esteem,  which  their 
Anglo-Saxon  descendants  over  the  water  seem  to  have  inherited, 
(and  sometimes,  I  think,  with  a  considerable  enlargement  of  the 
organ,  from  long  cultivation,)  a  genuine  Englishman  thinks  that 
nothing  out  of  his  own  country  can  possibly  be  so  good  as  what 
is  to  be  found  in  it.  Now,  in  intellectual  fruits,  and  the  products 
of  art  and  science,  I  will  not  dispute  their  preeminence  —  only 
hoping  that,  while  they  are  reposing  upon  their  laurels,  a  young 
and  ambitious  rival,  in  a  fair  and  generous  competition,  may  be 
up  with  them  as  soon  as  possible,  and  distance  them,  if  he  can. 
But  climates  and  sunshine  are  not  under  human  control ;  and 
the  fact  which  I  have  stated  is  in  my  mind  established,  and  not 
the  result  of  mere  prejudice,  of  which,  on  any  subject,  if  I  were 
conscious  of  it,  I  should  be  ashamed. 


MARKET    GARDENS.  373 


LX.  — MARKET   GARDENS. 


My  remarks  above  have  chiefly  referred  to  the  supply  of 
vegetables  in  London.  There  are  large  markets  in  all  the  prin- 
cipal towns ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  amount  required 
for  the  supply  of  this  mammoth  city,  with  its  two  million  hungry 
mouths,  not  one  of  whom,  scarcely,  in  any  direct  form,  produces 
a  single  mouthful  for  himself. 

The  extent  of  the  vegetable  gardens  in  the  neighborhood  of 
this  great  city  is  enormous,  and  the  multiplied  facilities  of  con- 
veyance make  even  remote  places,  now,  in  many  articles  the 
suppliers  of  London.  Fifty  years  ago,  it  was  calculated  that 
there,  were  two  thousand  acres  cultivated  by  the  spade,  and 
eight  thousand  by  the  spade  and  plough  conjointly.  The  extent 
of  cultivation  must,  of  course,  be  at  present  much  greater.  It  is 
said  of  one  individual  that  he  had  eighty  acres  in  asparagus,  and 
of  another  that  he  had  sixty,  and  that  the  forming  of  the  beds 
was  estimated  at  £100  per  acre.  This  undoubtedly  was  under 
the  old  system  of  growing  asparagus,  when  the  soil  was  to  be 
taken  out  to  a  depth  of  some  feet,  and  a  bed  of  stones  placed  at 
the  bottom,  and  other  expensive  arrangements.  Now,  asparagus 
is  grown  almost  as  easily  as  carrots  or  celery,  it  only  requiring 
to  be  first  grown  in  a  nursery  or  seed  bed,  and  then  transplanted 
in  the  bottom  of  deep  furrows  or  trenches,  made  two  feet  dis- 
tance from  each  other,  well  bedded  with  manure,  and  the  bed 
itself  kept  constantly  clean,  and  annually  covered  with  a  loading 
of  manure  in  the  autumn,  which  must  be  dug  in  with  a  fork  in 
the  spring.  This,  in  three  years  from  the  seed,  gives  as  good 
and  abundant  a  plant  as  under  the  old  method  of  trenching  and 
bottoming  with  stones,  and  laying  a  foot  of  manure  on  the  stones. 

The  amount  of  vegetables  sent  by  some  individual  salesmen 
is  enormous.  The  principal  market-days  are  three  times  in  a 
week,  but  Saturday  is  the  principal  day  ;  and  it  is  confidently 
stated  —  though  in  relating  it  I  fear  that  some  persons  may  think 
the  credulity  of  their  too-confiding  countryman  has  been  prac- 
tised upon  —  that  a  single  grower  has  been  known  to  send,  in  one 
day,  more  than  nineteen  hundred  bushels  of  peas  in  the  pod,  and 
seven  or  eight  loads  of  cabbages,  averaging  eighteen  hundred 
cabbages  each ;  and  at  another  season,  from  the  same  farm,  four- 
32 


374  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

teen  or  fifteen  hundred  baskets  of  sprouts  will  be  sent  in  one 
day,  and  in  the  course  of  the  year  from  five  to  six  thousand  tons 
of  potatoes.  In  his  account  of  the  agriculture  of  Middlesex, 
Middleton  says,  that  in  1795,  in  the  height  of  the  fruit  season, 
each  acre  of  the  gardens  cultivated  in  small  fruits  gave  employ- 
ment to  thirty-five  persons,  among  whom  were  many  women, 
who  were  employed  in  carrying  the  fruit  to  market  on  their 
heads ;  and  that  the  gathering  of  a  crop  of  peas  required  forty 
persons  for  every  ten  acres.  The  account  given  of  the  sum  of 
money  received  from  the  produce  of  a  single  acre  is  quite 
worthy  of  remark,  it  being  the  statement  of  a  market-gardener. 
Radishes,  £10;  cauliflower,  £60;  cabbages,  £30;  celery,  first 
crop,  £50  ;  second  crop,  £40  ;  endive,  £30,  —  making  a  total  of 
£220,  or  1100  dollars,  for  the  gross  produce  of  an  acre  in  twelve 
months.* 

Besides  the  market  which  London  presents  for  the  disposal  of 
the  products  of  these  immense  gardens,  it  is  to  be  remembered 
that  labor  may  be  procured  at  an  hour's  notice,  at  any  season  and 
for  any  term,  and  at  a  low  rate  of.  wages.  The  farmer  or  gar- 
dener is  therefore  saved  the  burden  of  keeping  up  an  expensive 
establishment  for  any  longer  time  than  their  services  are  needed ; 
with  this  addition,  that  he  makes  no  provision  whatever,  at  any 
time,  for  housing  or  feeding  them.  Any  person,  who  has  had 
the  management  of  a  large  farm  in  the  United  States,  knows 
quite  well,  that  the  sum  of  all  its  difficulties  is  in  the  feeding 

*  What  some  persons  may  deem  the  intrinsic  improbability  of  such  accounts, 
will  disappear,  when  one  considers  that,  in  London,  every  thing,  and  any  thing,  may 
be  sold,  and  may  find  purchasers,  excepting  only,  I  believe,  children.  These  are 
to  be  given  away ;  for  it  is  a  sober  truth,  that  in  the  streets  of  London  I  have  been 
repeatedly  offered  the  present  of  children,  and  that  from  tlie  breast  too,  though 
none  tlie  better  for  that,  if  I  would  take  them.  Whether  it  is,  by  a  sort  of  natural 
phrenological  skill,  they  discover  my  philoprogenitiveness  to  be  large,  or  from  a 
destitution,  the  bitterness  of  which  extinguishes  the  maternal  affections,  or  from 
a  profligacy  even  more  bitter,  and  more  deeply  to  be  deplored,  (in  too  many  cases 
tlie  pitiable  consequence  of  this  destitution,)  this  is  not  the  place  for  me  to  con- 
sider. But  it  is  for  my  own  countrymen  to  consider,  with  the  deepest  religious 
gratitude,  the  difference  between  a  condition  of  things  in  which  children  are  felt 
to  be  a  burden,  and  almost  a  curse,  and  that  in  which  a  healthy  and  perfect  child 
may  be  looked  upon  always  as  a  choice  blessing  from  Heaven ;  and  the  more 
hungry  mouths,  and  sparkling  eyes,  gather  round  the  well-filled  board  of  the 
humblest  cottager,  morning,  noon,  and  night,  so  much  the  more,  m  fact,  are  the 
means  of  supply  increased,  and  the  parental  heart  filled  to  overflowing  with  joy 
and  love 


MARKET    GARDENS.  375 

and  management  of  the  human  machinery.  In  the  next  place, 
here  there  is  no  want  of  capital  with  persons  who  undertake 
such  occupations  ;  and  it  is  applied  with  liberality  wherever 
there  is  a  chance  of  using  it  to  profit.  This  is  a  great  consid- 
eration, wherever  capital  may  be  safely  and  advantageously 
applied  to  land.  We  often  hear  the  counsel  given  to  cultivate 
a  little  land  well,  rather  than  a  large  extent  of  land  imperfectly. 
In  the  main,  this  is  sound  advice  on  the  score  of  profit.  But  in 
agriculture,  viewed  as  a  commercial  transaction,  the  profits  will 
correspond  with  the  amount  of  capital  invested  or  employed. 
Large  returns  are  to  be  expected  only  from  cultivating  a  large 
extent  of  land ;  or,  in  other  words,  pursuing  agriculture  as  a  man, 
who  would  command  success,  pursues  any  other  branch  of  trade, 
by  devoting  his  time,  talents,  and  zeal  to  it,  and  applying  all  the 
means  within  his  reach  to  its  advancement.  While 
*'  Little  boats  should  keep  near  shore, 
Vessels  large  may  venture  more." 

The  man  who,  as  above,  can  cultivate  one  acre  of  ground 
with  such  eminent  success,  may  cultivate  one  hundred  with 
similar  profit,  provided  he  can  give  to  it  the  same  requisite 
attention,  provided  a  sufficiency  of  labor  and  manure  are  equally 
attainable,  and  provided,  likewise,  the  market  is  equally  sure  and 
favorable  for  the  disposal  of  his  products.  Whether  capital  can 
in  any  particular  case  be  profitably  applied  to  agriculture,  must 
depend  upon  a  great  variety  of  local  and  temporary  circum- 
stances. It  is  so  with  commerce,  and  with  most  other  branches 
of  business.  No  human  power  or  skill  can  control  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  climate  and  the  weather ;  but  the  contingencies  on 
which  the  success  of  agriculture  depends  are  perhaps  not  so 
great  as  those  on  which  the  success  of  mercantile  transactions 
depends.  It  is  idle  to  expect  reward  without  labor,  fruit  with- 
out seed,  profit  without  risk,  success  without  effort,  —  unless  in 
those  games  of  mere  chance,  of  which  sober  men  will  beware, 
and  in  which  there  are  always  vastly  more  losers  than  winners, 
and  many  more  blanks  than  prizes.  The  great  want  with  most 
of  our  farmers  is  clearly  want  of  capital,  to  apply  to  the  land  in 
labor,  or  manure,  or  in  the  way  of  permanent  improvements  of 
drainage  and  irrigation,  which  change  at  once  the  whole  face  of 
a  country.  The  main  elements  of  success  in  agriculture  are  the 
same  as  in  any  other  profession,  —  skill,  judgment,  application, 


376"  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

industry,  and  capital,  either  in  the  form  of  education,  money,  oi 
credit ;  the  risks  are  not  greater :  the  road  to  a  reasonable  com 
petence,  which  is  all  to  which  a  good  mind  should  anxiously 
aspire,  is  as  certain  as  is  common  in  human  affairs ;  extraordi 
nary  success  —  which  I  do  not  say  it  is  criminal  to  desire,  but 
even  lawful  to  aim  at  —  is  not  unfrequently  attainable :  but,  what 
is  better  than  all,  the  gains  of  agriculture,  where  the  labor  by 
which  those  gains  are  secured  is  honorably  and  justly  providec 
for,  and  its  products  disposed  of  without  any  betrayal  of  con- 
science,  are  so  unalloyed,  so  untainted  by  corruption,  so  clearly 
in  themselves  not  the  occasions  of  privation,  but  the  very  in- 
struments of  good  to  others,  that  one  reposes  on  them  with 
entire  and  grateful  complacency,  and  their  value  to  the  winner  is 
more  than  quadrupled.  My  friends,  1  know,  will  pardon  my  en- 
thusiasm, which,  like  a  half-smothered  fire,  is  continually  bursting 
out  in  this  way.  If  it  sometimes  sheds  a  flickering  light  by  its 
blaze,  it  never  burns  to  destroy ;  and  if,  in  respect  to  that  noble 
pursuit  which  Heaven  first  ordained  for  man,  it  awakens  in  any 
pure  and  honest  minds,  not  crazed  with  speculation  nor  hardened 
and  corrupted  by  the  too  common  tricks  of  trade,  any  gentle 
vibrations  of  sympathy,  I  shall  feel  that  my  two  mites  have 
found  their  way  into  the  great  treasury  of  public  good. 

The  eminent  success  of  the  market-gardeners  near  London 
depends  on  several  circumstances  in  their  management,  which  I 
will  point  out.  In  the  first  place,  the  land  is  thoroughly  drained, 
so  as  not  only  to  cut  oflT  the  springs  which  might  render  the 
wetness  of  the  land  permanent,  but  likewise  to  carry  off  speedily 
the  rain  which  falls.  In  the  next  place,  the  land  is  completely 
trenched,  to  the  depth  of  from  two  to  three  feet,  with  the  spade. 
This  serves  two  purposes  ;  first,  to  assist  in  the  drainage  by  giving 
a  free  passage  into  the  principal  conduits  of  the  rain  as  it  comes 
down  ;  and  next,  to  enable  the  roots  of  the  plants  freely  to  extend 
themselves  in  search  of  food.  In  trenching,  it  is  necessary  to 
keep  the  top  soil  at  the  top,  and  not  to  bring  the  lower  stratum  to 
the  surface,  or  to  suffer  a  large  portion  of  the  cold  earth  to  be 
mingled  with  the  rich  mould.  This  requires  some  little  calcula^ 
tion.  The  soil  of  the  first  trench  made  across  the  field  must  be 
completely  thrown  out ;  and  so  likewise  the  top  soil  of  the 
second  trench.  The  bottom  soil  of  the  second  trenching  is  then 
to  be  thrown  into  the  vacant  space  of  the  first,  and  the  top  soil 


MARKET    GARDENS.  377 

of  the  third  line  upon  that.  Things  will  then  come  rightly  into 
their  places,  the  bottom  soil  being  always  thrown  upon  the  bot- 
tom, the  top  soil  upon  the  top,  while  at  the  end  of  the  piece 
trenched,  that  which  was  first  thrown  out  must  be  brought  and 
replaced.  The  third  point  particularly  attended  to,  is  ample 
manuring.  For  this  object  they  have  always  plentiful  stores  on 
hand,  to  be  applied  as  may  be  desired  ;  the  old  hotbeds,  when 
broken  up,  furnishing  large  quantities  in  that  decomposed  state, 
in  which  only  is  its  application  safe  in  respect  to  many  kinds  of 
plants.  Manure  is  sometimes  applied  in  a  solid  and  sometimes  in 
a  liquid  form.  Sometimes,  when  the  ground  is  dug,  the  manure  is 
dug  in  with  it ;  sometimes  it  is  laid  on  the  surface  ;  sometimes  it  is 
used  with  every  successive  crop,  at  other  times  with  the  first  crop 
only :  but  all  these  are  matters  directly  dependent  upon  experi- 
ence and  practice,  and  which  it  would  be  impossible,  in  such  a 
report  as  this,  particularly  to  define.  Manure,  in  its  coarsest  state, 
is  seldom  applied  to  garden  vegetables  ;  and  it  is  found  expedient, 
in  respect  to  liquid  manures,  to  apply  them  in  a  diluted  and  mixed 
form.  The  next  point  aimed  at,  is  to  avoid  the  immediate  repe- 
tition of  the  same  crop  on  the  same  ground ;  for,  though  manure 
may  be  had  in  abundance,  yet  the  second  and  third  crops  gradu- 
ally become  deteriorated.  Chemistry  has  not  yet  determined  with 
precision  how  this  evil,  if  so  it  is  to  be  regarded,  is  to  be  counter- 
acted. It  is  strongly  hoped  that  this  may  be  one  of  its  first 
achievements.  Most  of  what  it  has  yet  given  us  in  the  case  is 
theory.  What  we  want  is  practical  and  efficient  rules  by  which 
the  health  and  strength  of  the  declining  patient  may  be  at  once 
and  with  certainty  recovered.  The  next  object  is,  to  have  a  suc- 
cession of  crops,  one  crop  often  growing  between  the  rows  of 
another,  and  prepared  to  take  its  place  as  soon  as  it  is  removed, 
so  that  there  is  no  respite  of  the  cultivation,  while  the  season 
allows  of  it ;  and  near  London,  with  the  help  of  straw  covering, 
and  mats,  and  glasses,  some  plants  are  on  the  ground  all  the  year. 
For  this  object,  and  to  counteract  the  eff'ect  of  the  seasons,  the 
most  extensive  preparation  is  made ;  articles  are  prepared  of 
brush,  of  matting  and  straw,  and  hand-glasses,  or  boxes  with 
glass  tops,  and,  to  guard  against  insects,  boxes  with  coarse 
gauze  tops  are  prepared  in  the  greatest  abundance,  and  changes 
of  the  temperature  and  weather  are  watched  with  the  most 
sedulous  care.  Hot  and  forcing  beds,  likewise,  and  conserva- 
32* 


378  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

tories,  and  hothouses,  are  made  ready  in  the  most  extensive 
forms,  for  the  purpose  of  forwarding  plants  to  be  set  out  at  proper 
seasons,  and  for  the  growing  of  those  plants  which  require 
artificial  heat.  Lastly,  irrigation  is  as  much  as  practicable 
attended  to,  and  engines,  and  watering-pots,  and  other  contri- 
vances, are  in  constant  requisition  for  these  purposes,  and  as  far 
as  they  can  be  applied.  The  science  of  gardening  is  here  a 
substantial  science ;  and  young  men  are  as  carefully  educated  in 
its  various  departments  as  in  any  of  the  learned  professions,  and 
receive  a  patronage  according  to  their  skill  and  merit.  Under 
such  circumstances,  the  market  gardens  near  London  are  man- 
aged with  a  skill  and  enterprise  worthy  of  all  praise,  and  sure  of 
rewards  much  more  substantial. 


LXL  — COVENT  GARDEN  MARKET. 

The  great  market  in  England  for  vegetables,  fruits,  and  flowers, 
is  the  market  of  Covent  Garden,  without  question  a  corruption 
for  Convent,  as  this  place  is  understood  to  have  been  formerly  the 
garden  of  the  convent,  and  connected  with  the  establishment  of 
Westminster  Abbey.  The  whole  square  included  in  the  market- 
place is  said  to  embrace  five  acres ;  but  this,  I  think,  must  take  in 
the  buildings,  dwelling-houses,  hotels,  shops,  &c.,  forming  the 
exterior  boundary  of  the  square.  In  the  centre  of  this  square  is 
the  market-house,  of  Avhich  no  verbal  description  can  convey  a 
very  exact  idea  to  the  reader.  It  combines  open  stalls  and  close 
shops,  sellers  within  and  on  the  outsides,  with  a  long  hall  or 
arcade,  running  through  the  centre,  sixteen  feet  in  width,  and 
fitted  up  with  shops  on  each  side,  and  with  shelves  projecting 
into  the  passage,  which  are  spread  out  with  all  the  fruits  and 
flowers  of  the  season. 

1.  Fruits  and  Vegetables.  —  The  outer  stalls  are  for  the 
coarser  vegetables,  potatoes,  cabbages,  &c.,  and  for  the  common 
foreign  fruits.  This  is  by  no  means  the  only  vegetable  and  fruit 
market  in  London,  but  it  is  the  principal  one ;  and  some  of  the 
other  markets,  and  many  of  the  fruit-shops,  scattered  over  Lon- 


COVENT  GARDEN  MARKET.  379 

don,  receive  their  supplies  from  Covent  Garden. .  There  is  hardly 
any  season  of  the  year  when  every  variety  of  fruit  and  vege- 
tables, which  can  be  forced,  is  not  to  be  found  in  this  market ; 
and  in  the  proper  seasons  a  great  variety  is  to  be  found,  the 
product  of  natural  and  artificial  culture,  in  the  highest  perfection. 
The  sale  of  dried  foreign  fruits  is  here  likewise  immense.  Eng- 
land can  scarcely  be  considered  as  a  fruit  country,  and  the  high 
prices  charged  for  the  finest  fruits  place  them  beyond  the  reach 
of  all  but  the  most  wealthy  classes.  Two  shillings,  or  half  a 
dollar,  for  a  single  peach,  —  and  at  no  season  are  they  much  less 
than  half  that  sum,  and  many  other  fruits  in  proportion,  —  render 
them  forbidden  fruit  to  the  great  multitude.  In  quantity,  Covent 
Garden  is  limited  compared  with  the  city  of  London,  which  it  is 
intended  to  supply  ;  but  it  is  high  tide  here  on  a  market-day,  at 
daylight  in  the  morning,  when  the  wholesale  market-men  supply 
the  retailers,  and  the  streams  from  this  fountain  flow  into  and 
permeate  every  part  of  the  city  and  its  neighborhood.  The 
market  in  Farringdon  Street  occupies  as  much  ground  as  Cov- 
ent Garden,  but  this  embraces  butchers'  stalls  as  well  as  fruits 
and  vegetables. 

Covent  Garden  presents  an  interesting  spectacle  on  a  great 
market-day,  at  4  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  the  wholesale 
business  commences,  and  the  retailers,  seeking  supplies  for  their 
different  stalls,  and  the  occupants  of  stalls  in  other  markets,  and 
the  keepers  of  vegetable  shops  in  the  town,  and  the  various 
itinerant  dealers,  who  penetrate  all  the  by-places  and  streets  in 
different  parts  of  the  town  and  the  vicinity,  come  to  make  their 
purchases.  This  occupies  two  or  three  hours ;  and  a  busier  scene 
is  hardly  to  be  witnessed.  All  the  smaller  articles  —  gooseberries, 
currants,  peas,  beans,  new  potatoes,  apples,  &c.  —  are  brought  in 
baskets ;  cabbages,  lettuces,  rhubarb,  celery,  &c.,  in  bulk,  as  1 
have  described.  Peas,  in  Covent  Garden  Market,  are  shelled  be- 
fore they  are  sold,  and  after  they  come  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
wholesale  dealer.  These  come  frequently  in  sacks.  It  is  an  inter- 
esting sight  to  see  the  poor  and  squalid  women  and  young  girls, 
who  come  to  earn  a  few  pence  by  shelling  the  peas,  sitting  about  in 
different  squads,  (and  I  have  counted  at  one  time  as  many  as 
eighty  in  one  party,)  all  busily  engaged  in  this  occupation  at 
about  one  penny,  or  two  cents,  per  quart.  Raspberries  and  straw- 
berries are  brought  in  small  cone-shaped  baskets,  containing  little 


380  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

more  than  a  pint ;  and  these  are  usually  brought  long  distances 
on  the  heads  of  women.  It  is  said  that  these  women,  who  carry- 
such  heavy  loads  upon  their  heads,  are  principally  from  Wales, 
and  that  many  of  them,  for  example,  come  into  market  twice  a 
day  from  Brentford,  where  great  quantities  of  strawberries  are 
raised,  and  return ;  and  this  is  a  distance  of  more  than  seven 
miles,  making  at  least  thirty  miles  in  a  day.  To  such  endurance 
may  even  a  woman's  frame  be  trained.  Many  of  the  milk- 
women  in  London,  who  carry  their  milk  in  large  tin  cans  slung 
from  their  shoulders,  and  containing  from  six  to  eight  gallons 
each,  travel  long  distances  in  the  course  of  the  day.  But  the 
most  remarkable  instance  of  strength  and  endurance  is  perhaps 
to  be  found  in  the  fish-women  of  Edinburgh,  who  attend  the 
market  from  New  Haven  and  Musselboro'.  Their  load,  which  is 
in  two  baskets,  one  over  the  other,  containing  different  kinds  of 
fish,  slung  upon  their  backs,  often  weighs  150  lbs.,  and  has  been 
known  to  weigh  200  lbs.  The  distance  from  New  Haven  to 
Edinburgh  is  more  than  two  miles,  and  in  this  distance  they  stop 
to  rest  but  once  only ;  and  after  their  arrival  they  are  to  be  found 
crying  their  fish  in  all  parts  of  the  town.  How  many  of  the 
Chestnut  Street,  or  Washington  Street,  or  Broadway  belles  would 
it  require  to  lift  even  one  of  these  loads  from  the  ground  ?  Yet 
these  market  and  milk-women,  and  the  fish-women  of  Edinburgh, 
are  perfect  models  of  health  and  strength.  The  latter  —  with  their 
elephantine  arms  and  legs,  their  bright,  clean  caps,  and  fair  com- 
plexions, their  firm  tread,  and  their  stentorian  lungs,  with  their 
gay  costume  of  various  colors,  and  their  five  petticoats,  so 
arranged  in  different  lengths  that  a  portion  of  each  may  be  dis- 
played—  are  among  the  most  picturesque,  and  not  unpleasing, 
objects  of  that  beautiful  city. 

The  advantage  of  bringing  the  finer  fruits  to  the  market  in 
this  way  is,  that  they  come  in  the  best  possible  condition. 
The  wholesale  business  being  completed,  the  growers  of  the 
produce  return  home,  and  the  marketing  goes  at  once  into  the 
hands  of  the  shopmen  and  retail  dealers,  who  are,  in  general, 
residents  in  the  city. 

2.  Flowers.  —  Having  said  so  much  of  the  vegetables  and 
fruits,  I  must  not  omit  another  article  in  Covent  Garden  Market, 
of  which  the  sale  is  immense,  —  that  is,  flowers.     In  the  winter 


COVENT  GARDEN  MARKET.  381 

they  are  sent  here  from  the  greenhouses  ;  at  more  genial  seasons, 
from  various  gardens  and  conservatories  in  the  neighborhood. 
They  are  displayed  in  the  greatest  profusion  and  perfection,  and  are, 
undoubtedly,  a  large  source  of  income  to  the  cultivators.  The 
English  appear  to  me  to  have  a  strong  passion  for  flowers,  and 
I  commend  their  taste.  A  country  house,  without  its  plantation 
of  flowers  and  flowering  shrubs,  would  be  quite  an  anomaly  ; 
and  many  of  the  humble  and  moss-grown  cottages  have  their 
small  gardens  of  flowers,  their  doors  trellised  with  wood- 
bines and  honeysuckles,  and  their  outer  walls  covered  with  a 
thick  mantling  of  ivy,  and  made  gay  with  the  sweetbrier  and 
the  monthly  rose.  The  door-yards  of  the  English,  in  the  coun- 
try, their  windows,  their  halls,  their  palaces,  are  all  decorated 
with  flowers ;  they  are  among  the  most  beautiful  ornaments  at 
their  festivals  ;  and  even  the  highest  charms  of  female  loveliness 
are  studiously  augmented  by  these  innocent  and  splendid  adorn- 
ments. 

Looking  out  of  my  window  a  short  time  since,  I  saw  that  the 
laborer  wheeling  his  barrow  before  the  door  had  his  button-hole 
decorated  with  a  beautiful  geranium.  I  went  into  the  street,  and  the 
driver  of  the  omnibus,  whom  I  first  met,  wore  a  handsome  nosegay. 
I  met  a  bridal  party,  and,  besides  the  white  favors  worn  by  all  the 
servants  in  attendance,  each  one  had  a  bunch  of  flowers  at  his 
breast.  I  met  the  crowd  of  magnificent  equipages  hastening  to 
a  drawing-room  to  pay  their  courtly  homage  to  a  sovereign  queen, 
whose  virtues  and  most  exemplary  demeanor  render  her  worthy 
of  the  homage  of  true  aff"ection  and  respect ;  and  every  lady  bears 
in  her  hand  a  magnificent  bouquet ;  and  the  coachmen  and  the 
footmen  seem  to  emulate  each  other  in  the  gayety  and  beauty  of 
the  flowers  which  they  all  wear.  At  St.  Paul's,  at  the  opening 
of  the  term  of  courts,  the  long  procession  of  grave  and  learned 
judges,  who  then  go  in  state  to  church,  appears,  each  one,  with  an 
elegant  nosegay  in  his  hand.  At  the  opera,  upon  the  breathless 
and  successful  competitors  for  public  favor,  in  the  midst  of  a  tem- 
pest of  applause,  descends  a  perfect  shower  of  floral  wreaths  and 
fich  bouquets. 

I  sympathize  heartily  in  this  taste  of  the  English  for  flowers, 
which  thus  pervades  all  ranks,  and,  flowers  being  accessible  to  all, 
jind  among  the  most  innocent  and  the  cheapest  of  all  pleasures, 
diffuses  a  vast  amount  of  enjoyment.     They  are,  indeed,  among 


382  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

the  richest  adornments  of  God's  beautiful  creation,  and  every 
where,  in  the  tangled  forest,  in  the  most  secluded  thicket,  on 
the  ocean  prairies,  and  even  upon  the  desolate  heaths,  are  scat- 
tered about  in  such  an  endless  variety  and  profusion  as  cannot  fail 
to  impress  a  reflecting  and  devout  mind  with  the  most  grateful 
veneration  and  delight. 

As  for  those  persons  who  can  see  no  good  and  no  utility  in 
any  thing  beyond  that  which  fills  the  belly,  or  covers  the  back, 
or  puts  money  into  the  pocket,  they  are  of  the  earth,  earthy. 
Such  grovelling  selfishness  and  animalism  I  trample  under  foot 
with  ineffable  scorn.  But  the  cultivation  of  flowers  does  much 
for  the  benefit  of  the  mind.  A  taste  for  objects  so  pure  expels  a 
taste  for  others,  which  are  unworthy.  A  passion  for  what  is 
beautiful  and  refined  in  nature  often  secures  the  mind  from  the 
intrusion  of  passions  low  and  hurtful.  Every  advance,  which 
is  made  in  any  direction  for  the  improvement  of  the  taste  or  the 
refinement  of  manners,  is  so  much  done  for  the  general  comfort 
of  social  life  and  for  good  morals. 


LXIL  — GENERAL   MARKETS. 

Besides  the  markets  to  which  I  have  referred,  there  is  a  market 
in  London  exclusively  for  the  sale  of  raw  hides  and  leather ;  and 
in  various  parts  of  the  country  markets  are  held,  at  fixed  times 
and  places,  for  the  sale  of  wool,  and  of  butter  and  cheese.  These 
generally  go  under  the  name  of  fairs  ;  and  I  do  not  think  they 
can  be  too  soon  established  in  the  most  populous  districts  of  our 
country.  There  may  be  evils,  but  there  are  great  and  overbal- 
ancing advantages,  attending  them.  The  large  dealers  attend  in 
numbers  to  make  their  purchases,  and  both  sides  have  equal  ben- 
efits from  an  extended  competition.  Prices  assume  an  equal  and 
a  fair  rate.  The  farmer  may  feel,  ordinarily,  quite  sure  of  a 
market  for  his  produce  at  a  fixed  time,  and  to  receive  his  money, 
instead,  as  now,  of  depending  almost  upon  accident  for  a  pur- 
chaser. Last,  but  not  among  the  least  of  the  benefits  of  the 
markets  in  question,  is  the  wholesome  emulation  which  is 
created  by  bringing  different  articles  of  produce  into  comparison 


GENERAL    MARKETS.  383 

with  each  other.  The  producer  of  an  inferior  article  is  stimulated 
by  the  success  of  his  neighbor  to  produce  a  better ;  agricultural 
information  becomes  generally  diffused:  and  thus  agricultural 
improvement  is  essentially  advanced.  Should  such  markets  be 
established,  the  most  stringent  rules  should  be  adopted  for  their 
management ;  but,  above  all  things,  all  trickery  and  fraud  should 
be  eschewed  and  denounced.  A  man  guilty  of  it  should  be  so 
branded  with  infamy,  that  he  should  never  presume  to  show 
himself  there  a  second  time.  Men,  under  such  circumstances, 
would  be  sure  to  discover  that  "honesty  is  the  best  policy." 

In  London,  there  are  markets  for  the  exclusive  sale  of  poultry 
and  game,  and  in  Dublin,  I  found  one  wholly  devoted  to  the  sale 
of  eggs.  The  amounts  here  collected  and  disposed  of  almost 
surpass  belief.  The  statement  of  a  respectable  witness  and  cus- 
tom-house agent,  recently,  before  a  parliamentary  committee,  is 
quite  remarkable.  He  said  that  there  were  five  vessels  annually 
engaged  in  that  trade  between  Normandy,  on  the  coast  of  France, 
and  London,  which  brought  about  3700  tons  of  eggs  in  the  year. 
Ten  cases  went  to  a  ton,  and  from  1000  to  1200  were  in  each 
case.  This  trade  was  between  Cherbourg,  Harfleur,  Caen,  and 
Portsmouth.  Forty  millions  of  eggs  were  annually  imported 
through  this  channel  alone.  Some  one  asks  very  emphatically, 
''  Why  should  they  not  be  produced  at  home  ?  "* 

*  "The  value  in  money  of  one  seemingly  unimportant  article,  eggs,  taken,  in 
the  course  of  the  year,  from  Ireland  to  the  ports  of  Liverpool  and  Bristol,  amounts 
to  at  least  £100,000.  The  progress  of  tliis  trade  affords  a  curious  illustration  of 
the  advantages  of  commercial  facilities  in  stimulating  production  and  equalizing 
prices.  Before  the  establishment  of  steam-vessels,  the  market  at  Cork  was  most 
irregularly  supplied  with  eggs  from  the  surrounding  district ;  at  certain  seasons 
they  were  exceedingly  abundant  and  cheap,  but  these  seasons  were  sure  to  be 
followed  by  seasons  of  scarcity  and  high  prices ;  and  at  times,  it  is  said  to  liave 
been  difficult  to  purchase  eggs  in  the  market  at  any  price.  At  the  first  opening 
of  the  improved  channel  for  conveyance  to  England,  the  residents  at  Cork  had  to 
complain  of  the  constant  high  price  of  this  and  other  articles  of  farm  produce ; 
but  as  a  more  extensive  market  was  now  permanently  open  to  them,  the  farmers 
gave  their  attention  to  the  rearing  and  keeping  of  poultry ;  and  at  the  present 
time,  eggs  are  procurable  at  all  seasons  in  the  market  at  Cork ;  not,  it  is  true, 
at  the  extremely  low  rate  at  which  they  could,  formerly,  be  sometimes  bought, 
but  still  at  much  less  than  the  average  price  of  the  year.  A  like  result  has  fol- 
lowed the  introduction  of  this  great  improvement  in  regard  to  the  supply  and  cost 
of  various  other  articles  of  produce.  In  the  apparently  unimportant  article  feathers, 
it  may  be  stated,  on  the  respectable  authoril/  above  quoted,  that  the  yearly  impor- 
tation into  England,  from  Ireland,  reaches  the  amount  of  £500,000  sterling."  — 
Porter's  Progress  of  the  JVation,  vol.  iii.  83. 


384  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

Markets  of  a  general  character  are  held  once  or  twice  a  week 
in  all  the  principal  towns ;  and  in  those  cases  where  the  farms 
are  small,  the  farmers'  wives  and  daughters  will  be  seen  going 
six  or  eight  miles  on  foot,  or  in  vans,  (i.  e.  lumber  and  freight 
coaches  or  wagons, )  to  sell  the  week's  product  of  their  dairy  or  their 
poultry-yard.  In  this  case,  they  are  always  found,  with  their  neat 
baskets  upon  their  arms,  in  a  particular  part  of  the  market  as- 
signed to  them.  Their  neatness  of  dress  and  person  commend 
them  to  attention.  It  requires  some  courage  to  elbow  your  way 
among  them,  if  you  do  not  design  to  be  a  purchaser ;  and  their 
chaffering  and  courteous  solicitations  to  buy,  with  the  emphatical 
recommendations  of  the  articles  for  sale,  together  with  the  usual 
chatter  and  gossip  to  be  expected  among  such  a  collection  of 
gude  wives  and  bonnie  lasses,  are  sufficiently  amusing. 


^-^ 


',',   'J    '-.    '■     .7",    r.-J        .  r   e"'  '-    ^'^     ' 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


FIFTH  REPORT 


LXIL  — GENERAL   MARKETS.     {Continued,) 

1.  Market  at  Derby.  —  Nothing  can  be  more  miscellaneous 
than  an  English  country  market ;  and  my  readers  may  be  grati- 
fied with  the  partial  account  which  I  took  of  one  of  them  as  I 
went  through  it.  This  may  be  considered  as  a  fair  sample  of 
others.  Many  of  the  goods  are  spread  upon  the  ground,  or  under 
temporary  stalls  or  booths  erected  for  the  purpose.  Every  seller 
pays  a  certain  tax  to  the  town  for  permission  to  sell,  or  for  the 
load  of  goods  brought  into  market.  This  toll  is  generally  col- 
lected at  the  entrance  of  the  town,  as  it  is  to  this  day  in  Lon- 
don, from  every  loaded  vehicle  which  enters  the  city. 

This  market  was  held  in  the  open  square  at  Derby,  and  the 
stalls  were  chiefly  attended  by  women.  1.  Nails  and  tacks. 
2.  Old  iron,  chains,  &c.  3.  Cutlery  of  various  sorts.  4.  Shoes 
and  boots.  5.  Hats  and  caps.  6.  Hosiery.  7.  Millinery. 
8.  Iron  ware.  9.  Tin  and  copper  ware.  10.  Various  kinds 
of  female  dress,  caps,  laces,  &c.  11.  Household  furniture,,  old 
and  new.  12.  Brushes,  mops,  &c.  13.  Bread.  14.  Bacon 
and  salted  pork.  15.  Muslins  and  caps  in  upturned  umbrellas 
on  the  ground.  16.  Children's  toys.  17.  Combs  and  paste. 
18.  Flour.  19.  Butter  and  cheese.  20.  Fish  of  various  kinds. 
21.  Baskets.  22.  Old  books.  23.  Sofas,  bureaus,  and  tables. 
24.  Crockery  ware  and  glass  ware  of  various  kinds  on  the 
ground  —  a  great  many  sellers.  25.  Glass  ware  in  abundance. 
33 


386  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

26.  Rabbits  and  game.  27.  Poultry.  28.  Meats  of  various 
kinds.  29.  Vegetables  and  fruits.  30.  Straw  bonnets.  31.  Re- 
freshments, gingerbread  and  ginger  beer.  32.  Wool  in  large 
packs.  33.  Oranges,  &c.  34.  Sieves,  wire-baskets,  and  bird- 
cages. 35.  Bandboxes  and  trunks.  36.  Dolls.  37.  New  books 
and  stationery.  38.  Live  birds.  39.  Confectionary  of  various 
kinds.  40.  Shoes,  combs,  &c.  &c.  41.  Saddles,  bridles,  col- 
lars, &c.  42.  Rakes  and  agricultural  tools.  43.  Ginger  pop,  as 
usual.  44.  Garden  seeds.  45.  Patent  medicines,  and  especially 
worm  lozenges,  with  about  fifty  bottles  of  worms  preserved  in 
spirit  to  eWnce  the  efficacy  of  the  medicine  —  a  terrific  exhibi- 
tion. 46.  Meats  of  various  kinds.  This  comprehends  but  a 
small  portion,  and  by  no  means  all  the  varieties  of  stalls.  The 
whole  are  dispersed  by  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  popula- 
tion of  Derby  is  about  37,000,  and  is  chiefly  a  manufacturing 
population. 


LXril.  —  GENERAL    REMARKS    AND    DIVISIONS   OF   THE 
SUBJECT   OF    ENGLISH   FARMING. 

The  agriculture  of  England  presents  itself  under  three  great 
divisions  —  that  of  arable  farming  ;  breeding  and  grazing,  or  feed- 
ing ;  and  dairying.  I  propose,  in  a  great  degree,  to  arrange  my 
observations  conformably  to  these  three  parts. 

There  may  be,  with  some  of  my  readers,  a  misconception  as  to 
my  plan,  and,  in  consequence,  expectations  which  will  fail  to 
be  met.  I  do  not  undertake  to  give  a  complete  system  of  farm- 
ing, and  specific  and  exact  directions  in  detail  for  the  cultivation 
of  every  crop,  and  for  every  department  of  farm  management. 
This  would  oblige  me  to  execute  a  work  vastly  more  extensive 
than  that  which  I  have  undertaken.  With  respect  to  many  of 
my  readers,  it  could  prove  only  a  work  of  supererogation,  for 
much  of  these  details  must  be  as  familiar  to  them  as  the  roads 
over  their  farms.  I  have  always  found,  likewise,  in  respect  to 
such  directions,  with  which  many  books  are  crowded,  extending, 
as  they  frequently  do,  to  circumstances  the  most  minute  and  in- 
significant, that  they  are  often  inapplicable,  from  the  infinite  diver- 


GENERAL    REMARKS    AND    DIVISION    OF    THE    SUBJECT.  387 

sity  of  circumstances  which  different  cases  present.  Most  men 
have  their  pecuhar  methods  of  accomplishing  an  object,  which 
are  in  truth  the  best  for  them,  because  the  most  natural ;  they 
would  be  hampered  and  embarrassed  by  other  modes,  less  familiar, 
which  might  be  prescribed.  Unless,  therefore,  there  is  some 
striking  originality,  or  some  obvious  and  peculiar  convenience,  in 
the  method  suggested,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  in  general  what 
is  to  be  done,  and  leave  it  to  every  man's  own  ingenuity  to  find 
out  the  best  method  of  effecting  it. 

My  principal  object  is  to  point  out,  in  European  agriculture, 
such  circumstances  of  difference  between  it  and  our  own  as 
may  serve  for  the  improvement  of  the  agriculture  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  give  such  an  account  of  the  modes  of  manage- 
ment which  prevail  abroad,  and  which  have  been  sanctioned  by 
long  practice  and  experience,  as  may  facilitate  their  adoption,  as 
far  as  the  circumstances  existing  among  us  would  render  their 
adoption  eligible.  Every  country,  differing  from  other  countries 
in  its  climate  and  temperature,  in  its  soil,  in  its  facility  for  pro- 
curing manures,  in  the  character  and  supply  of  its  labor,  in  its 
commercial  and  political  relations,  must  be  expected  to  have  an 
agriculture  in  some  respects  peculiar  to  itself;  and  the  practices 
of  another  country  can  only  be  partially  adapted  to  its  own.  At 
the  same  time,  the  general  principles  of  agricultural  practice  are 
every  where  the  same ;  and  these,  with  the  various  modifications, 
which  they  may  be  expected  to  assume  under  different  degrees 
of  civilization,  or  different  degrees  of  improvement  in  science  and 
the  arts,  and  their  general  and  special  application,  cannot  be  too 
fully  discussed  and  illustrated.  We  may  learn  much  from  others, 
who  do  things  which  we  are  never  called  to  do ;  who  cultivate 
crops  which  we  never  cultivate,  and  never  can  cultivate  ;  and  we 
may  learn  much  from  persons  who  do  the  same  things  which  we 
do,  but  in  a  different  way  from  ourselves  —  who  cultivate  the  same 
crops,  but  by  their  own  peculiar  methods.  We  may  learn  much 
from  those  who  cultivate  better,  and  from  those  who  do  not  culti- 
vate so  well  as  ourselves.  There  is  little  hope  in  any  thing,  so 
far  as  any  great  improvement  is  concerned,  for  the  man  who  im- 
plicitly follows  any  guide  whatever.  He  must  exercise  his  own 
reason,  experience,  observation,  and  judgment,  in  the  application 
of  rules  which  may  be  laid  down  for  his  direction. 

The  celebrated  Bakewell,  whose  name  occupies  a  distinguished 


388  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

place  in  the  annals  of  agricultural  improvement,  advised  farmers, 
who  would  improve  their  cultivation  and  management,  '-to  go 
abroad  and  see  what  other  people  were  about."  Every  observing 
man,  who  acts  upon  this  advice,  will  find  its  advantages.  I  have 
often  heard  it  said,  and,  if  I  thought  it  of  any  value  in  the  case,  I 
should  say  that  my  own  experience  confirmed  it,  that  one  of  the 
best  modes  of  understanding  a  book  written  in  a  foreign  language 
is  to  read  different  versions  or  translations  of  it.  The  different 
forms  of  expressing  the  same  thought  adopted  by  different  per- 
sons, or  the  different  conceptions  which  different  minds  gather 
from  the  same  expressions,  whether  in  themselves  right  or  wrong, 
may  give  us  a  clew  to  the  true  meaning,  and  correct  many  a  mis- 
construction, or  reveal  and  make  light  many  a  hidden  or  obscure 
passage.  This  analogy  suggests  the  true  mode  in  which  an  in- 
quisitive mind  may  gather  instruction  and  knowledge  from  the 
practices  of  other  men. 

Three  things  seem  to  me  absolutely  essential  to  human  prog- 
ress in  any  and  every  art,  in  any  and  every  science.  The  first 
is  a  profound  conviction  of  the  imperfection  of  all  human  knowl- 
edge ;  the  second,  an  entire  distrust  of  all  human  infallibility ;  the 
third,  a  perfect  docility  of  mind,  and  a  readiness  to  receive  light 
and  instruction  from  any  and  every  quarter  where  it  may  be 
gathered,  or  by  which  it  may  approach  us.  Self-esteem,  which, 
when  combined  with  a  good  measure  of  benevolence  and  con- 
scientiousness, and  so  leading  men  to  admit  and  respect  the  just 
claims  of  others,  is  a  useful  and  harmless  sentiment,  and  prompts 
to  many  valuable  enterprises,  —  when  found  excessive,  and  in  a 
great  degree  unqualified,  becomes  an  almost  hopeless  impedi- 
ment to  improvement. 

I  was  told,  before  I  left  the  country,  by  some  American  friends, 
that  there  was  nothing  in  the  way  of  agriculture  to  be  learned  in 
England,  and  that  American  agriculture  was  as  improved  as 
English  agriculture.  I  had  been  but  a  short  time  in  England 
before  I  heard,  from  various  quarters,  that  in  no  country  on  the 
globe  had  agriculture  reached  that  degree  of  improvement  which 
it  had  attained  in  England ;  and  really  in  some  cases,  at  public 
dinners,  when,  in  the  language  of  modern  agricultural  chemistry, 
the  gases  of  the  wine  began  to  stimulate  the  brain,  one  would  be 
almost  led  to  infer  that  agriculture  itself  was  a  recent  invention 
of  British  genius ;    and    England  presented  herself  to  the  en- 


iL    REMARKS    AND    DIVISION    OF    THE    SUBJECT.  389 

ciiamea  imagination  leaning  upon  the  handles  of  a  plough,  with 
piles  of  scientific  books  spread  open  at  her  feet,  weeping,  like  the 
Macedonian  hero,  that  she  had  no  more  worlds  to  conquer.  A 
Flemish  gentleman  informs  me  that  the  agriculture  of  the  Low 
Countries  is  altogether  superior  to  that  of  any  other  part  of  the 
world.  The  Chinaman  puts  forth  his  claims  to  superiority,  and 
shows  pretty  conclusively  how  much  justice  he  has  upon  his 
side,  when^he  points  to  the  extraordinary  and  unquestionable 
fact,  in  his  own  country,  of  the  largest  amount  of  population  sup- 
ported upon  the  smallest  extent  of  land.  In  the  midst  of  all  this 
comes  a  German,  of  wide  possessions,  of  long  practical  experience, 
and  of  much  intelligence,  and  says  to  me,  "  The  English  are  the 
most  arrogant  and  conceited  people  under  the  sun  ;  and,  in  respect 
to  agricultural  improvement,  they  are  far  inferior  to  the  Germans," 
Now,  I  do  not  feel  it  necessary  to  buckle  on  my  armor  and 
defend  my  good  friends  the  English  against  language  which,  it 
must  be  admitted,  is  sufficiently  peremptory  and  harsh.  Nor  do 
I  deem  it  necessary  to  enter  the  lists  with  either  of  these  parties, 
and  endeavor  to  force  him  from  his  position.  A  diseased  or  in- 
ordinate self-esteem  brooks  no  argument,  and,  in  contending  with 
national  prejudices,  the  result  can  only  be  as  it  is,  to  use  the 
rather  coarse  metaphor  of  Dr.  Franklin,  with  a  man  who  spits 
against  the  wind  —  that  he  spits  in  his  own  face.  The  first  con- 
clusion to  be  drawn  from  these  confident  assumptions  is,  to  dis- 
trust them  all ;  and  the  second  is,  by  looking  calmly  and  impar- 
tially at  the  improvements  in  which  each  claims  a  superiority,  to 
gather  instruction  from  the  results  of  each  one's  experience,  and 
new  facilities  and  motives  to  enterprise,  inquiry,  and  exertion. 


LXIV.  —  THE   SOIL. 

Agriculture  rests,  first  of  all  things,  upon  the  nature  of 
the  soil  which  is  to  be  cultivated.  The  soil  is  the  basis  on 
which  the  plant  is  to  be  supported,  and  the  medium  through 
which  it  is  to  receive  the  food  by  which  its  life  is  to  be  sus- 
tained, its  growth  promoted,  and  its  progress  advanced  to  matu- 
33* 


390  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

rity.  Some  scientific  persons  assert  that  the  principal,  if  not  the 
only,  use  of  the  soil  is  for  the  support  of  the  plant,  and  that  the 
food  of  the  plant  is  derived  wholly  from  the  atmosphere.  In  the 
heat  of  their  imaginations,  they  have  even  asserted  that  a  man's 
fields  may  be  enriched,  or  rather  his  growing  crops  may  be  fed,  by 
the  exhalations  from  his  neighbor's  manure-heap  in  an  adjoining 
field.  This  would  be  very  much  like  a  man's  being  fed  by 
standing  over  the  grating  of  a  hotel,  or  a  cook's  shop  kitchen,  in 
London,  and  inhaling  the  odors  from  the  savory  viands  which 
are  there  in  the  process  of  preparation.  How  much  flesh  might 
be  gained,  and  how  long  life  might  be  sustained,  in  this  way,  we 
shall  know  when  the  experiment  is  once  successfully  tested. 
That  plants  receive  a  large  proportion  of  their  nourishment  from 
the  air,  does  not  admit  of  a  doubt.  But  the  calculations  of  the  phil- 
osophical chemists  as  to  the  amount  of  carbon  which  the  atmos- 
phere, taking  it  at  its  estimated  height  of  forty-five  miles,  is  ca- 
pable of  supplying,  (equal,  according  to  some  calculators,  to  the 
sum  of  seven  tons  to  an  acre  ;)  and  the  discussion  of  the  great 
question  how  the  atmosphere  was  first  supplied  with  this  great 
element  in  vegetable  life ;  and  the  apprehension  which  some 
persons  express,  on  account  of  the  supposed  actual  diminution 
of  carbon,  — though  there  appears  to  be  enough,  according  to  the 
most  rigid  calculations,  to  last  several  thousand  years  longer,  — 
are,  to  say  the  least  of  them,  sufficiently  amusing  ;  but  of  what  prac- 
tical use  they  can  be  to  the  common  farmer,  is  not  so  easy  to  de- 
termine. If  the  animal  creation  is  to  be  starved  out  some  thou- 
sands of  years  hence,  it  need  not  give  the  present  generation, 
whose  average  of  life  does  not  much  exceed  thirty-five  years, 
any  great  personal  concern.  It  will  not  be  a  harder  fate  than 
that  which  certain  of  what  are  called  the  higher  order  of  animals 
seem  disposed  to  anticipate  for  some  of  their  fellow-beings  now 
living.  But,  whatever  may  be  the  part  which  the  atmosphere 
performs  in  the  food  or  nourishment  of  vegetables,  it  is  beyond 
.human  power  to  afi'ect  or  control  it,  unless  we  can  grow  our  crops 
under  bell-glasses  or  in  greenhouses.  The  duke  of  Devonshire, 
in  his  magnificent  conservatory  at  Chatsworth,  three  hundred 
feet  long,  seventy-five  feet  wide,  and  sixty-four  feet  in  height, 
heated  by  seven  miles  of  pipes,  and  covering,  with  its  appurte- 
nances, a  full  acre  of  ground,  might  manage  to  charge  the  atmos- 
phere in  which  his  plants  respire  with  gases  exactly  suited  to 


THE    SOIL,      ^j^^  391 

their  wants,  and  of  the  most  nutritious  character  ;  but,  beyond  thii] 
gigantic  experiment,  to  which  few  can  aspire,  nothing  certainly  is 
to  be  hoped  for.  The  farmer's  whole  business,  as  far  as  cultiva- 
tion is  concerned,  hes  with  the  soil ;  and  upon  the  soil,  and  the 
skill  and  intelligence  with  which  he  manages  it,  must  depend 
entirely  his  success.  The  notion,  that  plants  receive  a  large  por- 
tion of  their  nourishment  through  their  leaves,  —  although  some 
experiments,  in  my  opinion  not  sufficiently  decisive  to  determine 
the  question,  seem  to  favor  it,  — appears  to  me  about  as  probable  as 
that  animals  receive  a  large  portion  of  their  nourishment  through 
their  lungs.  If  they  absorb  carbon  and  discharge  oxygen  by  day, 
they  reverse  the  process,  and  absorb  the  oxygen  of  the  atmos- 
phere, and  discharge  the  carbon,  by  night ;  and  what  portion  of 
the  latter  in  this  way  is  assimilated,  and  made  to  form  a  part  of 
the  plant,  (as  far  as  I  can  understand  the  experiments  which  have 
been  made,)  does  not  as  yet  seem  to  be  determined.  I  know  the 
confidence  with  which  this  is  affirmed,  and,  as  a  philosophical 
fact,  I  admit  that  it  is  of  great  interest  and  extremely  worthy  of 
inquiry.  A  friend,  a  few  days  since,  said  to  me  that  he  was  con- 
scious, when  immersed  in  water,  of  absorbing  considerable  water 
by  means  of  the  pores  of  the  skin,  and  wished  me  to  believe  it. 
With  great  respect  both  for  his  intelligence  and  honesty,  I  still 
remain  skeptical.  What  may  be  the  case  after  death,  when  de- 
composition has  commenced,  is  an  entirely  different  matter.  At 
present,  I  believe  that  the  only  way  in  which  the  food,  by  which 
the  body  is  nourished,  is  received,  is  by  the  mouth  ;  always  except- 
ing the  case  of  the  soldier  at  Washington,  so  fully  reported  in  the 
medical  journals,  who  had  a  hole  in  his  stomach,  by  which,  in 
order  to  watch  the  process  of  digestion,  food  was  supplied,  as  a 
servant  puts  away  cold  meat  in  a  cupboard.  The  fact  is  un- 
doubted that  plants  by  day  absorb  carbonic  acid  and  exhale  oxy- 
gen, and  that  by  night  the  process  is  reversed,  and  they  inhale 
oxygen  and  expel  carbonic  acid  ;  but  it  does  not  seem  so  well 
established  that  in  this  way  they  obtain  the  carbon  which  is 
assimilated  in  their  organism.  At  least,  the  supposition  is  so 
little  favored  by  analogy,  that  I  hope  it  may  be  lawful  still  to 
doubt. 

That  the  atmosphere  contributes  essentially  to  vegetation  — that 
plants  derive  much  of  their  nourishment  and  substance  from  the 
air,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  does  not  admit  of  a  question  : 


392  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

but.  so  far  as  any  practical  use  whatever  is  to  be  made  of  this 
fact,  we  must  consider  this  nourishment  as  received  through  the 
roots,  and  consequently  through  the  medium  of  the  soil  in  which 
these  roots  spread  themselves,  and  the  manures  by  which  it  is 
enriched.  The  soil  therefore,  as  the  basis  of  all  vegetation,  is  the 
great  object  of  the  farmer's  consideration. 


LXV.  —  THEORIES   OF   THE   OPERATION   OF   THE    SOIL. 

Soils  may  be  considered  in  two  points  of  view ;  first,  in  ref- 
erence to  their  intrinsic  or  absolute  character,  and  next,  in  ref- 
erence to  the  plants  to  the  growth  of  which  they  are  adapted. 
In  a  preceding  number,  in  speaking  of  the  chemical  analysis  of 
different  soils,  I  think  it  appeared  how  little  practical  advantage 
had  as  yet  been  derived  from  any  experiments  in  this  way 
which  had  been  made.  The  common  properties  of  soil  may  be 
distinguished  by  the  eye  or  the  feel  with  persons  of  experience 
and  practical  observation  ;  but  chemical  examination  may  often 
be  of  the  highest  importance  in  detecting  the  presence  of  some 
mineral  ingredient  by  which  the  cultivation  of  particular  crops 
may  be  hindered  or  wholly  prevented.  A  friend,  eminent  for  his 
agricultural  knowledge,  pointed  out  to  me  a  particular  field,  in 
which  all  attempts  to  grow  wheat  had  been  unsuccessful,  while 
no  such  incapacity  existed  in  the  adjoining  fields.  In  such  a 
case  as  this,  one  would  look  to  the  chemical  analysis  of  the  soil 
to  determine  what  ingredient  was  deficient,  or  what  unfriendly 
element  existed  or  predominated  in  the  soil  to  prevent  the  growth 
of  the  plant ;  and,  this  being  ascertained,  perhaps  a  remedy  might 
be  found.  But  the  extraordinary  and  minute  exactness  to  which 
the  chemical  analysis  of  the  soil  is  sometimes  carried,  and  upon 
which  many  scientific  persons  insist,  it  would  seem,  can  serve 
little  other  purpose  than  that  of  producing  despair  of  adapting 
our  cultivation  to  such  diversified  and  minute  variations. 

What  portion  of  the  soil  is  abstracted  for  vegetable  food  is  not 
yet  determined ;  and  it  is  a  singular  fact,  that,  though  analyt- 
ical chemistry  has  demonstrated  that  certain  mineral  substances 


THEORIES    OF    THE    OPERATION    OF    THE    SOIL.  393 

are  taken  up  in  the  organism  of  plants  and  are  essential  in 
composing  its  structure,  and  has  proceeded  to  calculate  the  actual 
amount  in  pounds'  weight  abstracted  by  the  growth  of  crops 
of  a  particular  quantity,  it  has  never  yet,  by  an  analysis  of  the 
soil  before  the  planting,  and  as  exact  an  examination  after 
the  crop  has  been  removed,  determined  the  loss  in  such  case. 
Why  this  has  not  been  done,  or  whether  it  be  beyond  the  present 
power  of  chemical  analysis  to  accomplish,  —  extraordinary  as  is  the 
degree  of  perfection  to  which  the  science  has  been  advanced,  — 
must  be  left  to  others  to  answer.  I  am  perfectly  aware,  of  course, 
that  the  same  identical  soil  cannot  be  subjected  to  the  process 
of  analysis,  and  then  employed  for  the  purposes  of  vegetation, 
with  a  view  of  ascertaining  what  has  been  lost  or  abstracted  ; 
but  em  equal  weight  taken  from  the  same  place  with  that  em- 
ployed for  growing  the  plants  might  be  examined,  and  after- 
wards that  in  which  the  plants  were  grown,  so  that,  by  this  kind 
of  comparison,  the  truth  might  be  to  a  degree  approximated.  I 
am  quite  aware  that  it  may  be  said,  in  this  case,  that  the  amount 
of  mineral  ingredients  found  in  the  produce  would  show  the 
exact  amount  abstracted ;  but  it  would  be  extremely  interesting 
to  know,  by  an  examination  of  the  soil,  that  these  results  exactly 
or  nearly  corresponded.  But  it  is  found  that  land  left  to  itself 
for  a  lengtTi  of  time  recovers  its  fertility,  and,  after  a  lapse  of  two, 
three,  or  more  years,  the  same  crop,  which  failed  when  grown  in 
immediate  succession  to  another  of  the  same  kind,  can  be  advan- 
tageously cultivated  again.  It  would  be  highly  curious,  then,  by 
retaining  a  portion  of  the  land  in  which  the  plant  had  been 
grown,  and  leaving  it  exposed  to  the  ordinary  influences  of  light 
and  heat,  and  rain  and  frost,  to  ascertain  in  what  length  of  time 
the  soil  would  recover  its  exhausted  elements  of  fertility.  This 
has  not,  within  my  knowledge,  been  attempted. 

The  ingenious  theory  of  Decandolle,  that  the  exudations  or 
excrementitious  matter  from  one  kind  of  crop  unfitted  the  ground 
for  an  immediate  repetition  of  the  same  species  of  plant,  seems 
now  to  be  generally  abandoned.  It  is  a  well-established  prin- 
ciple, which  practical  men  understand  quite  as  well  as  the  scien- 
tific, that  a  rotation  of  crops  is  indispensable  to  a  successful 
agriculture ;  and  the  theory  is  altogether  probable  that  a  par- 
ticular crop  exhausts  the  soil  of  certain  elements  essential  to  its 
production,  which  must  be  somehow  supplied  before  a  second 


394  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

crop  of  the  same  kind  can  be  grown  on  the  same  land  ;  but  it 
would  be  extremely  interesting  if  the  fact  of  such  exhaustion,  and 
its  extent,  could  be  more  particularly  determined  by  a  chemical 
examination  of  the  soil  which  has  been  cultivated.  The  beau- 
tiful theory  of  the  great  agricultural  oracle  of  the  day,  that 
certain  mineral  ingredients  which  are  always  found  in  the  ashes 
of  plants,  and  which  are  carried  off  when  these  products  are 
removed,  and,  being  essential  to  vegetation,  require  to  be  either 
artificially  replaced  or  supplied  by  a  natural  process,  —  and  that, 
the  land  being  suffered  to  rest,  or  applied  to  a  different  production, 
the  ordinary  influences  of  air  and  moisture  in  decomposing  the 
rocks  of  the  soil  will  renew  the  supply  of  these  mineral  elements 
which  have  been  removed,  —  seems  to  offer  the  desired  explana- 
tion ;  and  the  experiments  to  which  this  theory  has  led,  and 
which,  under  its  influence,  are  now  going  on  in  various  parts  of 
the  country,  must  presently  determine  it,  and,  what  is  better, 
show  its  proper  application,  and  greatly  simplify  the  processes  of 
agriculture,  reducing  its  expenses  and  giving  comparative  cer- 
tainty to  its  results. 

The  operation  of  air  and  moisture  upon  the  soil,  the  effects  of 
light,  and  electricity,  and  frost,  upon  vegetation,  all  admit  to  be 
powerful ;  but  they  are  as  yet  only  partially  understood,  and 
present  subjects  of  the  most  interesting  inquiry.  In  the  progress 
of  science,  technically  so  called,  we  have  much  to  hope  for;  but 
in  what  it  has  already  accomplished,  enough  has  been  gained  to 
quicken,  but  very  far  from  enough  to  satisfy,  the  appetite.  One 
of  the  most  eminent  agricultural  chemists  of  the  present  day, 
Boussingault,  second  perhaps  to  no  other,  has  said,*  ''  A  great 
deal  has  been  written  since  Bergman's  time  upon  the  chemical 
composition  of  soils.  Chemists  of  great  talent  have  made  many 
complete  analyses  of  soils  noted  for  their  fertility  ;  still,  practical 
agriculture  has  hitherto  derived  very  slender  benefits  from  labors 
of  this  kind.  The  reason  of  this  is  very  simple  ;  the  qualities 
which  we  esteem  in  a  workable  soil  depend  almost  exclusively 
upon  the  mechanical  mixture  of  its  elements  ;  we  are  much  less 
interested  in  its  chemical  composition  than  in  this ;  so  that 
simple  washing,  which  shows  the  relations  between  the  sand  and 
the  clay,  tells,  of  itself,  much  more  that  is  important  to  us  than 

*  Rural  Economy,  Law's  edition,  p.  266. 


THEORIES    OF    THE    OPERATION    OF    THE    SOIL.  395 

an  elaborate  chemical  analysis."  This  is  certainly  a  great  con- 
fession for  an  eminent  chemist  to  make. 

To  exemplify  the  different  results  to  which  the  most  scientific 
men  arrive  in  these  cases,  I  will  refer  both  to  Boussingault  and 
Von  Thaer  in  respect  to  a  simple  point,  the  presence  of  the  car- 
bonate of  lime  in  the  soil  as  essential  to  the  growth  of  a  crop  of 
wheat,  on  which  subject  the  public  mind  has  been  so  long,  so 
generally,  and  so  confidently  made  up. 

Von  Thaer  says,*  "  The  richest  argillaceous  soil  that  I  ever 
analyzed,  the  fertility  of  which  was  regarded  as  of  the  very  richest 
quality,  was  taken  from  the  right  bank  of  the  Elbe,  some  few 
miles  from  its  mouth ;  it  contained  eleven  and  a  half  parts  in  a 
hundred  of  humus,  four  and  a  half  of  lime,  a  great  quantity  of 
clay,  a  little  coarse  silica,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  very  fine 
silica,  which  could  only  be  separated  from  it  by  ebullition.  It 
certainly  possessed  a  great  degree  of  cohesion,  but,  when  moder- 
ately moistened,  it  was  not  very  tenacious.  It  was  made  to  bear 
the  richest  crops,  as  cabbages,  wheat,  autumnal  corn,  beans,  &c.  ; 
but  every  sixth  year  it  was  necessary  to  manure  it  thoroughly, 
and  to  give  it  a  fallow." 

On  the  preceding  page,  he  says,  "  The  richest  land  I  ever  ana- 
lyzed, and  which  was  taken  from  the  marshes  of  the  Oder, 
contained  19 J  parts  in  100  of  humus,  70  of  clay,  a  little  fine 
sand,  and  an  almost  imperceptible  quantity  of  lime  ;  but  the  situ- 
ation of  this  land  was  too  low,  and  it  was  too  damp,  to  admit  of  a 
correct  estimate  being  formed  of  its  fertility." 

Boussingault  says,t  "  I  may  remark  generally,  that,  from  the 
whole  of  the  analyses  of  good  wheat  lands  which  have  hitherto 
been  made,  it  appears  that  carbonate  of  lime  enters  in  consid- 
erable quantity  into  their  composition ;  and  theory,  in  harmony 
with  practice,  tends  to  show  that  it  is  advantageous  to  have  this 
earthy  salt  as  a  constituent  in  the  manures  which  are  put  upon 
soils  that  contain  little  or  no  lime." 

On  the  next  page,  J  he  says,  '•  M.  Berthier's  analysis  is  still 
far  from  proving  that  the  presence  of  lime  in  a  soil  is  indispen- 
sable, inasmuch  as  beautiful  wheat  crops  are  grown  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Lisle  without  lime.  In  proof  of  this  fact,  I  shall 
here  cite  the  analysis  of  one  of  the  most  fertile  soils  in  the  world, 

*  Vol.  i.  pp.  355,  354.  f  Rural  Economy,  p.  294.  X  p.  295. 


^6  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

the  black  soil  of  Tchornoizem,  which  Mr.  Murchison  informs 
us  constitutes  the  superficies  of  the  arable  lands  comprised 
between  the  54th  and  57th  degrees  of  north  latitude,  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  Volga  as  far  as  Tcheboksar,  from  Nijni  to 
Kasan,  and  stretching  over  a  still  more  extensive  district  upon  the 
Asiatic  side  of  the  Ural  Mountains.  Mr.  Murchison  is  of  opinion 
that  this  land  is  a  submarine  deposit  formed  by  the  accumulation 
of  sands  rich  in  organic  matters.  The  Tchornoizem  is  composed 
of  black  particles,  mixed  with  grains  of  sand ;  it  is  the  best  soil 
in  Russia  for  wheat  and  pasturage  ;  a  year  or  two  of  fallow  will 
suffice  to  restore  it  to  its  former  fertility  after  it  has  been 
exhausted  by  cropping ;  it  is  never  manured. 
''  M.  Payen  found  in  this  black  and  fertile  soil, 

'^  Organic  matter,      .     6.95  (containing  2.45  per  cent,  of  azote.) 
Silica,      ....  71.56 


11.40 
5.62 
0.80 
1.22 


Alumina, 

Oxide  of  iron, 

Lime, .     .     . 

Magnesia,     . 

Alkaline  chlorides,      1.21 

Phosphoric  acid,  .  a  trace. 

Loss, 1.24 

100.00  " 
It  is  a  little  remarkable,  judging  from  the  analysis  here  given, 
that  not  only  is  the  quantity  of  lime  extremely  minute,  but  even 
the  phosphates,  deemed  so  essential  and  indispensable  to  success, 
are  also  absent. 

Such  are  the  diversified  results  to  which  even  the  most  scien- 
tific are  led ;  and  they  are  well  adapted  to  admonish  us  of  the 
imperfection  of  human  knowledge,  and  the  limitation  of  human 
powers.  In  Lincolnshire,  where  some  of  the  best  farming  in 
England,  as  is  universally  admitted,  is  to  be  found,  on  a  soil 
where  the  whole  substratum  was  chalk,  or  the  carbonate  of  lime, 
and  where  the  mould  or  loam  was  not  more  than  three  or  four 
inches  deep,  I  found  the  farmers  manuring  the  land,  from  pits 
dug  in  the  field,  with  the  very  chalk  by  which  the  whole  soil 
was  underlaid.  Upon  my  proposing  the  question  to  an  eminent 
geological  professor,  then  with  me,  much  interested  in  agricul- 
ure,  why  this  was  done,  he  replied  that  the  lime  in  the  surface 


THEORIES    OF    THE    OPERATION    OF    THE    SOIL.  397 

soil  had  probably  become  exhausted  by  sinking  down,  through 
its  greater  specific  gravity;  but  I  could  not  see  that  there  could 
be  any  difficulty  in  the  plants  reaching  it,  where  the  whole  body 
of  lime  lay  within  so  short  a  distance  of  the  surface.  My  own 
belief  is,  that,  in  this  case,  its  operation  is  chiefly  mechanical, 
and  that  its  use  was  merely  to  consolidate  the  upper  surface,  and 
make  it  more  adhesive  for  the  roots  of  the  plant,  and  that  any 
other  substance  or  marl,  equally  firm  and  consistent,  would  have 
served  the  same  end. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  chemists  of  the  present  day,  distin- 
guished for  the  splendor  of  his  attainments,  seems  to  entertain, 
with  no  small  confidence,  the  opinion  that  chemistry,  including 
probably  electricity  and  galvanism,  is  destined  to  solve  all  the 
secrets  of  vegetable  and  animal  life  ;  that  the  various  processes 
going  on  in  nature  are  mere  chemical  processes ;  and  that  any 
thing  like  a  vital  power  above  or  beyond  them  all,  and  incapable 
of  being  solved  by  scientific  investigation,  is  an  hypothesis 
unworthy  of  an  enlightened  mind.  It  is  certainly  not  for  the 
human  mind,  as  yet,  to  say  what  cannot  be  done  ;  and  it  would 
be  quite  premature  for  Science  to  assume  that  she  has  reached 
the  ultimate  boundaries  of  investigation,  as  it  would  be  impious 
for  her  to  claim  the  prerogatives  of  omniscience.  But  if  I  may 
in  the  case  adventure  the  remark,  — admiring  as  much  as  any  one 
can  the  actual  and  wonderful  achievements  of  science,  —  there 
still  remains  beyond  even  the  farthest  advances  an  impassable 
barrier,  a  terra  incognita^  which  the  most  adventurous  have  not 
yet  penetrated.  It  is  easy  to  ascertain  that  certain  substances 
have  an  affinity  for  each  other,  and  science,  with  wonderful 
ingenuity,  has  determined  the  forms  of  combination  under  which 
they  become  united.  The  action  or  force  by  which  they  are 
brought  together  and  there  held  may  hereafter  be  explained,  and 
may  be  ranked  under  some  unknown  chemical  force  j  but  as  yet 
any  attempts  to  define,  or  even  conjecture,  its  nature,  have  been 
wholly  abortive.  The  simple  and  familiar  fact,  that  the  muscles 
are  obedient  to  the  will  in  moving  the  limbs,  every  one  admits ; 
but  in  what  this  will  consists,  and  how  it  is  exerted,  and  how  it 
effects  its  purpose,  seems  as  yet  as  far  from  being  reached,  as  on 
the  day  that  the  first  child  was  born  into  the  world. 

We  are  very  apt  to  exclaim,  in  the  ecstasy  of  the  Grecian  phi- 
losopher in  the  successful  investigation  of  an  interesting  prob- 
34 


398  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

lem,  ''  I  have  found  out !  I  have  found  out !  "  when,  with  all  the 
apparent  and  flattering  loosening  of  the  strings,  the  Gordian  knot 
remains  as  firm  as  ever.  The  processes  of  nature  must  be  all 
simple  enough  to  the  great  Mind  which  established  them,  but 
that  is  not  the  human  mind.  To  compare  a  rushlight  to  the 
sun  would  fall  infinitely  short  of  expressing  the  difference  be- 
tween them.  But  it  is  obvious  that  so  many  circumstances  must 
combine  to  accomplish  even  the  simplest  and  most  familiar 
results  in  nature,  that,  to  a  finite  understanding,  the  simplest  pro- 
cesses must  be  complicated.  Any  person  of  common  observa- 
tion, who  will  go  into  a  meadow  or  pasture,  and  observe  t-he 
different  varieties  of  plants  which  cover  the  ground,  and  remark 
how  every  one  preserves  its  own  peculiar  distinctive  character 
and  form,  and,  though  all  growing  upon  the  same  soil  and  under 
the  same  external  influences,  each  one  extracts  for  itself,  and  for 
itself  alone,  that  which  its  own  peculiar  character  and  constitu- 
tion require,  —  and  that  in  size,  and  form,  and  color,  and  odor, 
and  stem,  and  leaf,  and  fruit,  and  seed,  there  are  essential,  and 
inviolable,  and  invariable  distinctions,  —  and  that  each  one  appro-* 
priates  to  itself  that  which  is  required  to  form  the  stem,  and  to 
expand  the  leaves,  and  to  throw  in  the  coloring,  and  to  mature 
the  fruit,  preserving  always  the  perfect  identity  of  the  species, 
and  furnishing  in  some  cases  a  nutritious,  and'in  others  a  poison- 
ous compound  for  animal  life,  —  will,  I  think,  be  very  far  from 
considering  the  phenomena  of  vegetable  life  as  simple,  or  resol- 
vable into  those  few  chemical  laws  which  have  been  established 
in  what  must  at  least  be  still  considered  as  only  the  infancy  of 
the  science. 


LXVI.    A  MODERN  DISCOVERY. 

It  is  lately  stated,  as  one  of  the  great  discoveries  of  the  age, 
that  an  eminent  agricultural  chemist  has  invented  (or  rather  de- 
termined how  they  should  be  compounded)  a  variety  of  manures 
specially  adapted  to  the  particular  crop  to  be  cultivated,  furnish- 
ing in  exact  measure  and  kind  the  food  which  is  required.  The 
professed  object  is  to  supply  those    mineral  and   alkaline   sub- 


A    MODERN    DISCOVERY.  399 

Stances  to  the  soil  of  which  it  has  been  exhausted  in  the  process 
of  cropping,  and  to  furnish  them  in  such  form,  and  so  combined, 
as  that  they  may  be  best  taken  up  by  the  plant,  and  presented  to  the 
plant  only  so  gradually  as  the  habits  of  the  plant  may  require. 
This  eminent  chemist  claims,  to  use  his  own  words,  '-to  have 
found  means  to  give  to  every  soluble  ingredient  of  manure,  by  its 
combination  with  others,  any  degree  of  solubility  without  alter- 
ing its  effect  on  vegetation.  I  give,  for  instance,  the  alkalies  in 
such  a  state  as  not  to  be  more  soluble  than  gypsum,  which,  as  is 
well  known,  acts  through  many  years,  even  as  long  as  a  particle 
of  it  remains  in  the  soil.  The  mixture  of  manures  has  been 
adapted  to  the  mean  quantity  of  rain  in  this  country,  (England;) 
the  manure  which  is  used  in  summer  has  a  greater  degree  of  solu- 
bility than  that  used  in  winter.  Experience  must  lead  to  further 
results,  and  in  future  the  farmer  will  be  able  to  calculate  the 
amount  of  produce  of  his  fields,  if  temperature,  want  of  rain,  &c., 
do  not  oppose  the  manure  coming  fairly  into  action.  I  must, 
however,  observe  that  the  artificial  manures  in  no  way  alter  the 
mechanical  condition  of  the  fields ;  that  they  do  not  render  a 
heavy  soil  more  accessible  to  air  and  moisture  ;  for  such  fields  the 
porous  stable  manure  will  always  have  its  great  value  ;  it  can  be 
given  together  with  the  artificial  manure."  * 

With  the  highest  respect  for  this  eminent  man,  whose  scien- 
tific labors  have  given  a  spur  to  agricultural  inquiry  and  experi- 
ment unknown  in  any  former  time,  one  cannot  but  remark  the 
convenient  reservation  afforded  by  the  qualification  "  if  tempera- 
ture, want  of  rain,  &c.,  do  not  oppose  the  manures  coming  fairly 
into  action  ;  "  and  the  recommendation  to  apply  the  stable  ma- 
nure together  with  the  artificial  manure,  and  the  statement,  in 
another  place,  that  certain  manures  *^act  far  more  favorably  on  the 
production  of  grain  crops,  especially  if  they  are  added  to  the 
animal  excrements,  and  are  given  to  the  fields  at  the  same  time," 
present  sagacious  and  certainly  very  safe  advice.  They  slightly 
remind  one  of  a  custom  formerly  prevalent  in  some  Catholic 
countries  on  the  Continent,  when,  at  the  opening  of  the  spring, 
the  priest  was  accustomed  to  go  over  the  fields  of  his  parishion- 
ers to  give  them  his  blessing ;  but  when  he  came  to  fields  which 
were  exhausted  and  sterile,  he  was  very  careful  to  add,  "  This 
needs  manure."     The  doctrine  of  the  occasional  and  temporary 

*  Liebig-  on  Artificial  Manures. 


400  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

exhaustion  of  the  soil,  by  the  continued  repetition  of  the  same 
crop,  of  ingredients  or  elements  important  to  its  growth  and 
maturity,  certainly  seems  reasonable  and  well  established ;  but 
the  dread  which  seems  to  possess  some  minds  of  an  exhaustion 
which  would  doom  the  soil  to  perpetual  barrenness,  without  some 
extraordinary  supply  of  the  materials  of  which  it  has  been  de- 
prived, may  have  more  ground  to  rest  upon,  when  the  birds  in 
any  country  or  locality  are  unable  to  find  lime  to  form  the  shells 
of  their  eggs,  and  animals  become  mere  lumps  of  gum-elastic  for 
want  of  material  to  form  their  bones.* 

There  is  a  recuperative  power  in  nature  by  which  it  would  seem 
that  any  soil,  originally  adapted  to  the  growth  of  any  particular 
plant,  by  rest,  or  by  the  growth  of  other  and  different  plants,  be- 
comes again  fitted  for  the  original  cultivation.  That  this  may 
be  hastened  by  artificial  manures,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  That 
science  may  at  last  achieve  the  great  discovery  of  a  way  by 
which  the  same  plant  may  be  cultivated  uninterruptedly  year 
after  year  on  the  same  soil,  is  certainly  to  be  hoped  for. 
Whether  this  object  is  already  accomplished  by  this  distin- 
guished philosopher,  is  now  to  be  submitted  to  actual  experiment 
by  those  who  can  afford  to  purchase  this  artificial  manure. 

*  The  fears  which  seem  to  haunt  some  minds,  lest,  by  cultivation,  the  exhaus- 
tion of  the  soil  should  proceed  so  far  as  ultimately  to  put  even  the  existence  of 
the  human  race  in  peril,  from  famine,  may  be  useful  enough  in  exciting  men  to 
frugality  in  the  saving  of  manures,  and  enterprise  and  industry  in  their  applica- 
tion ;  but  seem  as  little  warranted  as  the  sanguine  expectations  of  the  Millerites, 
who  looked  for  the  end  of  the  world  in  April,  1843,  and  some  of  whom,  having 
got  their  white  robes  fitted,  and  their  wings  spread,  seemed  to  be  rather  out  of 
temper  that  their  predictions  failed,  and  that  Heaven  in  its  mercy  granted  the 
"  poor  dogs,"  the  unbelievers,  a  short  reprieve.  Voltaire,  when  admonished  that 
coffee  was  a  slow  poison,  remarked  that  it  must  be  very  slow  indeed,  for  he  had 
drunk  it  constantly  for  seventy  years.  Mr.  Lyell,  in  his  late  Tour  in  the  United 
States,  (which,  let  me  remark  by  the  way,  is  written  in  the  calm  spirit  of  a  philo- 
sophical observer,  and  does  honor  to  his  candor  and  sense  of  justice,  as  well  as  to 
his  scientific  attainments,)  is  of  opinion  that  the  time  occupied  in  the  recession  of 
Niagara  Falls  from  the  shores  of  Lake  Ontario,  where  they  once  were,  to  their 
present  position,  could  not  have  been  less  than  35,000  years  ;  and  tliat  the  fossil 
remains,  both  vegetable  and  animal,  now  found  there,  show  that  even  this  period, 
startling  as  it  may  seem,  belongs  to  a  modern  and  not  a  primeval  era.  How  idle 
in  respect  to  these  matters,  seem,  then,  the  calculations  of  beings,  who 


are  such  stuff 


As  dreams  are  made  of,  and  whose  little  life 
Is  rounded  with  a  sleep .'  " 


SOILS    OF    GREAT    BRITAIN.  401 

,  These  compounds  are  advertised  for  sale  at  £10  sterling, 
or  $50,  per  ton,  and  a  ton,  it  is  said,  will  be  sufficient  for 
manuring  four  acres.  Some  agricultural  friends,  who  have  ap- 
plied them,  have  promised  me  the  results  of  their  experiments. 
My  readers  shall  have  them  when  they  are  received.  Such  a 
discovery  would  certainly  constitute  a  great  advance  in  agricul- 
tural improvement.  I  shall  not  venture  to  predict,  but  patiently 
wait  the  issue,  not  deeming  it  necessary  to  caution  those,  whose 
funds  are  limited,  against  large  investments.  It  seems,  from 
some  examples  already  given,  that,  with  time,  the  soil  itself,  by 
its  own  inherent  energies,  for  which  we  cannot  be  sufficiently 
grateful,  will  recover  its  exhausted  fertility.  In  the  mean  time, 
its  use  is  never  to  be  abandoned  ;  for  the  improved  agriculture  of 
modern  times  has  certainly  made  one  great  advance  in  utterly 
^ondemning  a  naked  fallow,  and  the  soil  may  be  occupied  with 
^qual  advantage,  both  to  itself  and  its  cultivators,  by  a  succession 
of  tenants. 


LXVII.  —  SOILS  OF  GREAT   BRITAIN. 

The  soils  of  Great  Britain,  in  two  or  three  respects,  differ  essen- 
tially from  the  soils  of  the  United  States.  In  Great  Britain,  or 
rather  in  England,  —  for  I  believe  the  formation  does  not  extend 
into  Scotland  or  Ireland,  —  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  chalk,  com- 
ing, in  some  cases,  directly  to  the  surface,  and  turned  up  by  the 
plough  ;  in  other  cases,  formed  a  few  inches  below  a  surface  of 
mould  or  loam,  interspersed,  in  some  cases,  with  an  infinite 
number  of  small  or  broken  flint-stones.  We  have  much  cal- 
careous soil  in  the  United  States,  much  of  the  primitive  and 
secondary  limestone  formation,  but  I  know  of  no  deposits  of 
chalk.  I  have  not  seen  in  Great  Britain  sChy  soils  of  pure  sand, 
such  as  we  find  on  Gape  Cod,  in  Massachusetts,  on  the  eastern 
shores  of  New  Jersey,  and  in  the  South  Atlantic  States.  Nor  do 
I  know  in  the  United  States  of  any  such  mountain  peat,  or  bog, 
as  is  to  be  found  in  parts  of  England,  and  in  vast  tracts  of  Ireland. 
In  the  latter  country  there  are  many  hills,  of  very  considerable 
elevation,  and  in  Scotland  and  England  likewise,  covered  with 
34* 


402  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

pure  bog-peat  to  the  depth,  I  have  seen  in  some  instances,  of 
ten  or  twelve  feet,  and  holding  water  like  a  sponge.  Of  course, 
these  must  have  formed,  in  some  distant  period,  valleys,  or  level 
surfaces,  where  vast  forests  once  stood,  and,  falling  down,  passed 
into  decay,  succeeded  by  those  plants  which  constitute  the  prin- 
cipal substance  of  which  these  beds  are  composed ;  and  then 
afterwards  have  been  elevated  above  the  surrounding  country  by 
some  great  convulsion  of  nature.  These  hills  are  entirely  desti- 
tute of  trees,  and  covered  only  with  furze,  or  heather,  or  moss. 
I  know  of  no  examples  in  the  United  States  of  deep  deposits  of 
peat  being  found  upon  elevated  summits ;  but  there  are  likewise 
in  Ireland,  as  in  the  United  States,  very  extensive  tracts  of  level 
peat-bog  shut  in,  by  high  grounds,  saturated  by  water,  and  of 
unascertained  depth.  There  are  likewise  in  England  some 
extensive  peat-bog  meadows,  of  the  improvement  of  which  I 
shall  presently  treat ;  but  such  tracts,  within  my  observation,  are 
not  common. 

There  are  likewise  in  England  immense  extents  of  alluvial 
soil.  The  valley  of  the  Thames,  for  a  great  part  of  its  extent,  is 
clearly  alluvial;-  so  are  the  flat  lands  upon  the  Humber  and  its 
various  branches ;  so  are  the  immense  tracts,  denominated  feii 
lands,  in  Lincolnshire,  Bedfordshire,  and  Cambridgeshire  ;  so  is 
the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Trent,  and  the  valley  in  which  York 
is  situated ;  so  likewise  is  the  rich  White  Horse  Valley,  as  it  is 
termed,  in  the  county  of  Berkshire.  Some  of  these  are  a  stiff*, 
adhesive  clay,  of  the  most  tenacious  character  ,•  others  a  deep, 
rich  loam ;  and  some  of  them  have  been  redeemed  from  the  sea 
by  a  process  called  ivarping,  which  I  shall  presently  describe. 
These  are  composed  of  what  is  here  called  silt,  which  consists 
of  a  very  fine  sand,  and  muddy  or  aluminous  matters,  held  in 
suspension  by  the  water  of  the  tides,  and  brought  down  likewise 
by  the  waters  of  rivers  coming  from  the  interior  and  swollen 
with  rains,  which  have  swept  down  the  cultivated  hills,  and 
robbed  them  of  some  portion  of  their  riches.  These  lands  are 
justly  deemed  some  of  the  most  fertile  in  the  kingdom. 

There  are  likewise  extensive  tracts  of  soil  resting  upon  the 
red  sandstone,  like  some  of  the  soils  in  New  Jersey,  producing 
large  crops  of  the  richest  herbage  in  pasture,  and  fine  crops 
under  tillage  ;  but  of  the  common  granitic  soils  of  New  England 
I  have  met  with  few  examples.     There  are,  however,  I  believe, 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    SOILS.  403 

extensive  tracts  of  them,  especially  in  the  north.  A  geological 
survey  of  the  Island  of  Great  Britain  has  been  executed  with 
great  skill,  and  the  various  geological  formations  distinctly  indi- 
cated on  a  map ;  but  such  have  been  the  extraordinary  convul- 
sions on  the  earth's  surface,  that  the  geological  lines  are  not  an 
infallible  guide  to  the  character  of  the  soil.  It  may  be  safe,  in 
general,  to  infer  the  character  of  the  soil  from  the  nature  of  the 
rocks  prevalent  in  any  particular  locality ;  but  the  diluvial  and 
alluvial  deposits  often  differ  entirely  from  the  character  of  the 
rocks  which  lie  beneath  them.  No  knowledge  of  the  geological 
formation  of  a  country,  therefore,  — so  far  as  its  cultivation,  and 
the  general  character  of  the  crops  to  be  raised,  are  concerned,  — 
will  supply  the  place  of  personal  observation  and  experience. 

If  the  nature  of  the  soil  were  the  only  circumstance  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  in  determining  the  character  of  the 
agriculture  to  which  it  is  adapted,  the  mode  of  cultivation,  and 
the  crops  to  be  grown  upon  it,  the  whole  subject  would  evidently 
be  greatly  simplified  ;  but  the  climate,  including  heat  and  mois- 
ture, and  the  aspect  and  elevation  of  the  land,  are  quite  as  much 
concerned  in  every  question  connected  with  this  subject. 


LXVIII.  —  CLASSIFICATION   OF   SOILS. 

For  all  practical  purposes,  soils  may  be  ranked  under  five 
different  heads  —  sandy,  clayey,  calcareous,  peaty,  and  loamy. 
I  purposely  avoid  all  scientific  distinctions,  and  use  such  terms 
as  even  the  commonest  farmer  will  understand.  A  sandy  soil 
is  that  in  which  sand  abounds ;  clayey,  in  which  clay ;  calca- 
reous, in  which  lime  in  some  form  prevails;  peaty,  in  which 
peat ;  loamy,  in  which  a  rich  loam  abounds.  These  soils  are 
sometimes  found  so  combined,  that  it  might  be  difficult  to  desig- 
nate their  character  by  any  one  of  these  general  terms.  In  some 
places,  they  are  found  in  almost  a  pure  state.  In  general,  where 
there  is  found  in  a  soil  80  per  cent,  of  sand,  it  must  be  pro- 
nounced a  sandy  soil ;  and  so  the  clay,  the  peat,  or  the  lime  ;  but 
it  is  not  always  easy  to  class  a  soil  which  is  of  a  mixed  char- 


404  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

acter,  and  say  what  kind  of  element  predominates.  By  sight 
and  feeling,  however,  practical  men  are  able  to  form  an  opinion 
of  a  soil  upon  which  it  may  be  safe  to  act.  Besides  the  principal 
elements,  to  which  I  have  referred,  there  is  often  found  some 
mineral  ingredient,  which  may  seriously  affect  the  character  of 
the  soil,  and  the  degree  of  the  presence  of  which  can  only  be 
determined  by  scientific  examination.  Iron,  copper,  or  mineral 
coal,  is  in  general  sufficiently  indicated  to  the  eye,  or  shows 
itself  in  the  water  which  percolates  the  soil.  The  different 
forms,  too,  in  which  lime  presents  itself  in  the  soil,  whether 
as  chalk,  or  gypsum,  or  magnesian  limestone,  are  all  to  be  con- 
sidered in  determining  the  character  of  a  soil. 


LXIX.  —  PHYSICAL  PROPERTIES  OF  THE  SOIL. 

In  addition  to  the  characteristics  of  a  soil  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  there  are  other  circumstances,  usually  denominated  the 
physical  properties  of  a  soil,  by  which  its  fertiUty,  or  the  kind 
of  cultivation  to  which  it  may  be  proper  to  subject  it,  are  to  be 
in  a  great  degree  determined.  These  are  its  wetness  or  dryness, 
its  power  to  absorb  or  retain  moisture,  its  consistency  or  friability, 
and  its  temperature.  Ail  these  matters  are  essentially  connected 
with  the  fertility  of  a  soil,  and  the  kind  of  crops  to  which  it  is 
to  be  applied. 

1.  Wetness  of  a  Soil. — Wet  soils,  or  soils  a  considerable 
part  of  the  time  under  water,  produce  a  coarse  herbage  of  little 
value  to  stock  —  in  many  cases  scarcely  sufficient  to  support  life, 
and  rendering  scarcely  any  nourishment.  The  manure  of 
animals  fed  upon  the  produce  of  such  soils  is  comparatively 
worthless.  It  has  been  found,  likewise,  by  repeated  experiments, 
that  water  allowed  to  remain  upon  land  for  any  length  of  time 
is  injurious  to  vegetation,  when  the  rapid  transition  of  water 
over  the  land  might  be  highly  beneficial.  An  exception,  of 
course,  is  to  be  made  where  the  passage  of  a  turbid  stream  or 
flood  is  arrested  long  enough  to  afford  opportunity  for  the  depo- 


PHYSICAL    PROPERTIES    OF    THE    SOIL.  405 

sition  of  the  enriching  matter  with  which  its  waters  are  charged. 
The  effect  of  too  much  water  is  to  reduce  the  temperature  of 
the  soil,  to  obstruct  the  access  of  the  external  air  to  the  roots 
of  the  plants,  and,  in  fact,  to  macerate  and  destroy  the  texture  of 
the  finest  kinds  of  herbage.  Perhaps  it  would  be  a  more  simple 
statement,  and  equally  just,  to  say  that  the  aquatic  plants  are, 
with  some  exceptions,  not  adapted  to  the  nourishment  of  animal 
life,  and  that  those  which  are  most  suited  for  the  food  of  man 
or  beast,  are  not  suited  to  be  grown  under  water.  Water  is  of 
great  importance  to  their  sustenance  and  growth.  They  cannot 
live  without  it ;  but  they  cannot  live  in  it.  As  to  the  human 
being,  it  may  be  of  the  highest  benefit,  both  as  an  internal  and 
external  application  ;  but  there  is  soon  an  end  to  the  matter  when 
man  is  plunged  into  water,  and  kept  under  it. 

All  hope  of  cultivation  or  improvement  must  be  abandoned, 
where  land  is  under  water  any  considerable  portion  of  the  time, 
or  where  it  is  fully  saturated  with  water,  like  a  sponge. 

2.  Power  to  absorb  Moisture  in  a  Soil.  —  I  may  remark, 
in  the  next  place,  that  the  fertility  of  a  soil  very  greatly  depends 
upon  the  power  of  the  soil  to  absorb  and  to  retain  moisture. 
Some  very  distinguished  men  have  maintained  that  the  fertility 
of  a  soil  may  be  measured  by  this  power,  an  opinion  which,  it 
may  be  said,  (without  meaning  a  pun.)  has  much  ground  to  rest 
upon,  but  which  cannot  be  admitted  without  considerable  quali- 
fications. Moisture  and  wetness  are  in  this  case  to  be  carefully 
distinguished.  A  soil  consisting  almost  wholly  of  sand  possesses 
no  retentive  powers;  and  though  of  all  other  soils  the  most 
absorbent,  yet  the  water  passes  through  it  as  through  a  sieve. 
Clay,  on  the  other  hand,  is  extremely  retentive  of  water,  often  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  vegetation  which  grows  upon  it.  Liebig, 
in  a  recent  treatise  upon  artificial  manures,  to  which  I  have 
already  referred,  seems  to  be  of  opinion  that  the  system  of  drain- 
age now  prosecuted  with  so  much  enterprise  in  England  may  be 
carried  to  an  injurious  extent,  so  as  to  induce  the  too  rapid  pas- 
sage of  the  soluble  manures  which  are  applied,  and  before  they 
can  be  taken  up  by,  or  have  performed  their  proper  office  to,  the 
growing  plants.  As  every  thing  which  this  distinguished  gen- 
tleman asserts  is  now  deemed  oracular  in  the  agricultural  world, 
1  will  quote  his  observations  at  large. 


406  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

"  The  reason  why,  in  certain  years,  the  influence  of  the  best 
and  most  plentiful  manuring  is  scarcely  perceptible,  is  that, 
during  the  moist  and  rainy  springs  and  summers,  the  phosphates 
and  other  salts  with  the  alkaline  bases,  as  also  the  soluble  ammo- 
tiiacal  salts,  are  entirely  or  partially  removed.  A  great  amount  of 
rain  and  moisture  removes,  in  the  greatest  quantity,  the  very 
substances  which  are  most  indispensable  to  the  plants  at  the  time 
they  begin  to  mature  and  form  seeds.  The  system  of  draining 
which  of  late  has  been  so  extensively  followed  in  England 
brings  the  land  into  the  state  of  a  great  filter,  through  which  the 
soluble  alkalies  are  draion  off  in  consequence  of  the  percolation 
of  rain,  and  it  must,  therefore,  become  more  deficient  in  its 
soluble  efiicacious  elements.  Attentive  farmers  must  have  ob- 
served that,  after  a  certain  time,  the  quality  of  the  grain  on  land 
laid  dry  according  to  this  principle  deteriorates ;  that  the  produce 
of  grain  bears  no  due  proportion  to  the  produce  of  straw." 

"  What  is  more  evident,  after  these  remarks,  than  that  intelligent 
farmers  must  strive  to  give  to  the  soil  the  manuring  substances 
in  such  a  state  as  to  render  possible  their  acting  favorably  on 
the  plants  the  whole  time  of  their  growth.  Art  must  find  out 
the  means  of  reducing  the  solubility  of  the  manuring  substances 
to  a  certain  limit,  —  in  a  word,  of  bringing  them  into  the  same 
state  in  which  they  exist  in  a  most  fertile  virgin  soil,  and  in 
which  they  can  be  best  assimilated  by  the  virgin  plants." 

"  The  attention  which  I  have  paid  to  this  subject  has  been 
crowned  with  success.  I  have  succeeded  in  combining  the 
efficacious  elements  of  manure  in  such  a  manner  as  that  they 
will  not  be  washed  away  ;  and  thus  their  efficacy  will  be  doubled. 
Owing  to  this,  the  injurious  consequences  of  the  present  system 
of  draining  are  removed  ;  agriculture  is  placed  upon  as  certain 
principles  as  well  arranged  manufactories ;  and,  instead  of  the 
uncertainty  of  mere  empiricism,  the  operations  of  agriculture 
may  be  carried  on  with  security ;  and,  in  place  of  waiting  the 
results  of  our  labors  with  anxiety  and  doubt,  our  minds  will  be 
filled  with  patience  and  confidence." 

Such  are  the  brilliant  visions  which  are  held  up  before  the 
mind  of  the  farmer ;  and  such  is  the  distrust  which  this  great 
man  would  throw  over  the  enterprising  practice  of  draining.  It 
is  not  quite  easy  to  understand  how  the  plants  are  to  take  up 
their  food  but  in  a  condition  of  the  most  minute  solution ;  nor 


PHYSICAL    PROPERTIES    OF    THE    SOIL.  40? 

how,  if  they  are  dissolved,  they  are  to  be  kept  from  being 
washed  away.  It  is  not  for  any  finite  mind,  m  cases  which 
admit  of  any  doubt,  to  say  what  is  possible  or  what  is  impos- 
sible ;  and  it  would  be  premature  to  condemn  that  which  comes 
recommended  upon  such  high  authority,  and  is  yet  to  be  made 
the  subject  of  experiment.  After  the  extraordinary  and  most 
beneficial  results  which  have  been  effected  by  the  thorough 
draining  of  all  superfluous  wet  from  the  soil,  the  agriculturists 
may,  however,  pursue  the  system  with  a  good  degree  of  con- 
fidence, especially  if  a  mode  has  been  discovered  of  combining 
the  alkalies  and  the  phosphates,  that  they  shall  not  be  so  dis- 
solved by  rain  and  wet  as  to  be  washed  away,  and  yet  that  they 
shall  be  so  dissolved  that  they  may  be  taken  up  by  the  plant  as 
its  wants  may  require.  Within  the  last  month  of  writing  this, 
I  have  seen,  on  a  thin,  dry,  and  light  soil,  in  which  sand 
abounded,  the  beneficial  efl'ects  of  thorough  drainage,  where,  on 
a  field  of  turnips,  the  crop  of  the  drained  portion,  with  no  other 
difl^erence  than  the  drainage,  was  evidently  better,  by  one  half, 
than  that  on  the  undrained  part.  If  it  be  the  fact  that  soils  of  a 
friable  or  porous  nature  are,  in  this  way,  liable  to  lose  these 
beneficial  elements  by  rains  and  wet,  it  would  seem  extraordi- 
nary that  the  fact  had  not  been  sooner  discovered,  and  their 
deficiency  and  destitution  made  evident.  I  would  not  express 
these  doubts  in  any  captious  spirit,  knowing  how  much  agricul- 
ture must,  in  the  end,  owe  to  science,  and  being  ready  to  hail 
with  the  highest  satisfaction  any  triumph  it  may  achieve. 

3.  Consistency  and  Friability  of  Soils.  —  The  next  point 
to  be  considered,  in  the  character  of  a  soil,  is  its  consistency  or 
friability.  A  soil,  if  too  closely  packed,  — which  soils  of  almost 
pure  clay  are  liable  to  be,  —  not  only  forbids  the  passage  of  water, 
which  it  holds  stagnant  upon  its  surface,  but  is  impervious  to 
the  roots  of  plants,  especially  of  those  plants  which  send  their 
roots  downwards  in  search  of  nourishment.  It  is  likewise  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  be  worked  in  wet  weather,  being  not  easy  to 
move  upon,  adhering  to  the  feet  of  the  workmen  and  the  horses, 
and  to  the  implements,  and  in  dry  weather  being  sunburnt  and 
hard,  and,  when  turned  up,  remaining  in  large  and  unmanageable 
clods.  In  the  northern  parts  of  the  United  States,  where  the 
frosts  are  severe,  plants  are  always  liable  to  be  thrown  out,  and 


408  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE.  H'l 

their  roots  torn  asunder,  by  the  violent  disruption  of  the  clods. 
On  the  other  hand,  soils  may  be  too  fine,  powdery,  and  friable, 
being  subject  to  be  blown  by  the  winds,  being  too  little  retentive 
of  moisture,  and  therefore  liable  to  be  severely  affected  by 
drought,  and  failing  to  furnish  a  sufficiently  strong  hold  for  the 
roots  of  those  plants  which  spread  themselves  upon  the  surface. 
A,  soil  neither  excessively  consistent  and  close,  nor  excessively 
friable,  is  undoubtedly  to  be  preferred.  All  pent-up  or  stagnant 
water,  either  on  the  surface  or  within  the  ground,  is  unquestion- 
ably prejudicial  to  a  healthy  vegetation ;  and  a  freedom  or  porosity 
of  soil,  s-o  as  to  admit  the  free  access  of  the  air,  is  an  important  and 
valuable  feature.  It  seems  to  be  a  well-established  fact,  that  a 
newly  turned  up  surface  attracts  moisture  from  the  atmosphere  : 
and  the  more  friable  a  soil  is,  the  more  surface  it  exposes  to  the 
external  air.  In  condensing  the  aqueous  particles  floating  near  the 
surface,  it  thus  procures  for  the  plants  growing  upon  it  some  of  the 
most  important  elements  of  vegetation.  This  is  undoubtedly  the 
secret  of  the  success  in  forwarding  vegetation  by  frequent  stirring 
of  the  earth  around  plants  even  in  time  of  drought,  especially 
plants  with  broad  leaves,  such  as  cabbages  and  lettuces,  which, 
by  means  of  their  expansive  foliage,  protect  the  earth  underneath 
them  from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun. 

4.  Temperature  of  Soils.  — It  is  not  my  intention  to  give  a 
treatise  on  this  subject,  nor  to  extend  my  remarks  beyond  such 
notices  as  will  best  explain  the  great  improvements  in  cultiva- 
tion, or  the  management  of  soils,  which  have  been  undertaken 
and  accomplished  here,  and  which  may  properly  be  said  to  con- 
stitute the  glory  of  English  husbandry.  I  proceed,  then,  to  ob- 
serve, that  another  important  property  of  soils  may  be  said  to  be 
their  temperature.  This  is  a  matter  of  great  importance  in  respect 
to  vegetation.  Heat,  as  well  as  moisture,  are  both  equally  essential 
to  vegetable  life  and  growth.  The  temperature  of  a  soil  would 
seem  to  be  very  little  under  human  control ;  yet  undoubtedly 
much  may  be  done  in  some  ways  for  this  object.  At  certain 
seasons  of  the  year,  on  the  approach  of  frost,  vegetation  is  arrested, 
and  at  all  seasons,  in  certain  altitudes,  cultivation  is  hopeless.  In 
Great  Britain,  this  limit  is  reckoned  at  fifteen  hundred  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea;  but  the  cultivation  of  wheat  cannot  be  rec- 
ommended above  six  hundred  feet.     The  main  source  of  heat  to 


PHYSICAL    PROPERTIES    OF    THE    SOIL.  409 

the  soil  is  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of 
that  immense  internal  fire  of  liquid  matter  supposed  to  exist  within 
the  centre  of  the  globe,  and  occupying  a  large  portion  of  it,  while 
we  are  resting  only  upon  a  thin  outward  crust,  yet  little  of  this 
heat  is  felt  at  the  surface  ;  and  animal  and  vegetable  life  is  de- 
pendent upon  that  magnificent  orb  which  the  Creator  seems  to 
have  placed  in  the  firmament  as  the  emblem  of  his  own  inex- 
haustible, impartial,  and  Avidely  expansive  goodness,  which  bids 
the  sleeping  earth,  in  the  spring  time,  arise  as  it  were  from  the 
dead,  and  put  on  the  habiliments  of  vegetable  splendor  and 
beauty,  which  fills  the  luscious  vine  of  summer  with  its  rich 
clusters,  and  gilds  the  autumnal  harvest  with  a  beneficent  and 
matchless  glory. 

The  temperature  of  the  soil  is  then  dependent  upon  external 
influences,  —  upon  the  sun  primarily,  and  the  atmosphere  as 
affected  by  the  heat  of  the  sun.  This  temperature  is,  of  course, 
aff*ected  by  the  condition  of  the  soil  as  to  wetness  or  dryness, 
and  somewhat  by  its  inclination  and  aspect. 

The  more  direct  are  the  rays  of  the  sun,  the  stronger  the  heat 
produced  by  thorn ;  and  the  lighter  or  brighter  the  surface  on 
which  they  fall,  the  less  strongly  are  they  absorbed,  and  the 
more  strongly  reflected.  In  judging  of  the  fertility  of  a  soil, 
with  some  persons  its  color  is  always  matter  of  consideration  ; 
black  soils  absorbing  heat  much  more  strongly  than  white  or 
light-colored  soils.  A  rich  garden  black  mould  is  a  great  ab- 
sorber of  heat.  A  sandy  soil,  or  soil  composed  mainly  of  silex, 
becomes  soon  he^ited,  first,  from  its  dryness,  the  water  passing 
directly  through  it,  and,  second,  from  the  smooth  surface  and 
crystalline  form  of  the  particles  of  which  it  is  composed ;  the 
heat  is  increased  by  being  reflected  from  one  side  to  the  other, 
as  in  a  tin  oven.  The  temperature  of  a  soil  is  materially  afl"ected 
by  its  condition  .is  to  moisture  or  dryness.  This  is  obvious  to 
every  one.  Bir;  there  is  another  curious  fact  in  this  case,  not  so 
generally  observsd  —  that  water  is  a  non-conductor  of  heat  down- 
wards. It  woald  be  difficult  to  make  a  kettle  of  water  boil  by 
making  a  fiv.^,  over  it.  So  the  sun's  heat  upon  a  wet  surface  is 
repelled,  p.ni\  not  transmitted ;  and  while  evaporation  may  be 
going  OF.  \t  the  surface,  the  lower  strata  remain  cold.  The  tem- 
peratuix'  jf  a  soil  is  materially  affected  by  its  aspect.  Hence 
soils  ^7/  g  to  the  south,  receiving  as  they  do  the  more  direct 
35 


410  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

rays  of  the  sun,  are  much  warmer  than  those  to  the  north,  and, 
in  both  cases,  the  temperature  is  affected  by  the  angle  of  incli- 
nation at  which  the  land  presents  itself  towards,  or  recedes  from, 
the  rays  of  the  sun;  the  steeper  it  is  towards  the  south  the 
warmer  —  the  steeper  it  is  towards  the  north,  for  obvious  reasons, 
the  colder  the  temperature.  It  is  well  known,  in  respect  to  the 
tenderer  fruits  —  such  as  peaches,  for  example  —  in  high  northern 
latitudes,  that  the  crop  is  generally  more  certain  on  the  northern 
than  on  the  southern  side  of  a  hill,  for  the  reason  that,  the  frost 
continuing  longer  and  more  constantly,  they  come  into  flower 
at  a  later  period,  and  therefore  are  less  liable  to  the  dangers  of 
being  repeatedly  frozen  and  thawed,  and  to  be  cut  off  by  the 
late  frosts  in  the  spring.^ 


LXX.  — PEATY   SOIL. 

There  are  two  other  varieties  of  soil  to  which  I  have  referred, 
upon  which  I  shall  take  leave  to  make  some  passing  remarks. 
The  first  is  the  peaty  soil,  which  is  composed  wholly  of  vege- 
table matter,  and  is  sometimes  found  of  a  great  depth.  It  is 
evidently  formed  of  the  deposit  and  decay  of  vegetables,  and  in 
different  stages  of  decomposition,  —  some  being  reduced  to  a  fine 
and  compact  pulp,  which  cuts  like  butter,  other  being  only  par- 
tially decayed,  and  retaining  the  original  forms  of  its  leaves  and 
stems.  If  vegetable  matter  were,  as  is  often  reckoned,  the  best 
food  of  plants,  it  would  seem  as  though  no  soil  could  l}e  so 
fertile  as  that  of  peat.  This  is  not  found  to  be  the  case,  how- 
ever, but  for  reasons  not  so  well  established  as  the  fact.  The 
plants  of  which  peat  land  is  composed  have  perished  under 
water.  It  may  be  said,  therefore,  that  they  are  rather  in  a  state 
of  preservation  than  decay,  and  this  is  quite  obvious  from  the 
fact,  that  the  water  is  required  only  to  be  drained  out,  or  dried 
up  in  them,  and  they  furnish  a  fuel  equal  to  wood.     "  From  the 

*  "In  the  country  in  which  1  reside,  it  has  been  remarked,  that  those  portions 
of  land  which  receive  the  first  rays  of  the  morning  sun  are  more  apt  to  suffer 
from  the  effects  of  white  frosts  than  others,  because  the  sudden  transition  from 
cold  to  heat  sensibly  affects  delicate  plants."  —  French  Trans,  of  Von  Thaer. 


PEATY    SOIL.  411 

nature  of  its  formation  under  the  surface  of  water,  it  acquires  a 
portion  of  tannin,  which  has  the  property  of  preserving  animal 
and  vegetable  matter  from  decomposition."  It  may  be,  likewise, 
that  the  species  of  plants  of  which,  in  general,  these  preserved 
plants  are  composed,  being  of  an  aquatic  nature,  they  do  not 
form  the  most  suitable  nourishment  to  plants  of  a  different 
description.  I  speak  in  this  case  according  to  the  vulgar  appre- 
hension of  the  manner  in  which  plants  are  fed,  well  knowing 
that  the  received  doctrine  is,  that  the  organic  portions  of  plants 
are  obtained  wholly  from  the  atmosphere,  and  that  the  soil 
supplies  only  their  mineral  ingredients.  Yet  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that,  in  ordinary  cases,  the  fertility  of  a  soil  essentially 
corresponds  to  the  amount  of  vegetable  matter  found  in  it, 
whether  it  supplies,  in  any  degree,  the  actual  substance  of  the 
plant,  or,  by  its  gradual  decay,  be  merely  the  vehicle  of  transmit- 
ting for  its  nourishment  the  gases  out  of  which  its  substance  is 
to  be  composed.  It  is  certain,  however,  whatever  may  be  the 
philosophical  reason  in  the  case,  that  pure  unmanufactured  peat 
does  not  form  a  nourishing  soil  or  substance  for  plants,  other 
than  those  to  which  a  wet  soil  is  particularly  congenial,  and  that 
it  cannot  be  made  so,  but  under  a  particular  management,  which 
I  shall  presently  describe.  The  vegetable  matter  of  which  peat 
consists,  being  once  thoroughly  reduced,  and  mixed  with  other 
substances  of  an  alkaline  character,  is  rendered  a  most  enriching 
manure  for  most  kinds  of  land,  though  a  much  less  substantial 
one  than  is  generally  supposed.  One  of  its  great  uses  is  that 
of  an  absorbent,  taking  up  the  liquid  matters  which  would  other- 
wise be  lost. 

Immense  bogs  have  been  redeemed,  and  brought  into  a  state 
of  productive  cultivation,  in  England  ;  and,  of  late,  these  improve- 
ments have  been  going  on  with  greater  success  than  usual.  In 
Ireland,  such  improvements  have  proceeded  to  a  great  extent, 
and  the  Waste-Land  Improvement  Company  have  at  this  time, 
in  one  place,  five  thousand  acres  of  bog  in  the  process  of  im- 
provement. This  place  I  had  the  pleasure  to  visit,  and  shall 
presently  speak  of  what  has  been,  and  what  is  proposed  to  be, 
accomplished.  The  peat-bog,  under  favorable  circumstances,  as 
I  have  seen  in  the  United  States,  as  well  as  in  England,  may  be 
rendered  in  the  highest  degree  productive  and  profitable.  The 
bog  of  salt  marshes  is  of  a  different  character  from  the  fresh 


412  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

water  peat-bog.  This,  however,  is  composed  of  vegetable  matter 
in  the  main,  being  altogether  marine  plants,  which  have  served 
as  a  kind  of  net-work  to  collect  the  earthy  matter  brought  among 
them  by  the  tide.  The  quantity  of  salt  intermixed  with  these 
deposits  gives  them  a  peculiar  character.  They  are  favorable 
to  the  production  of  plants  congenial  to  them  ;  but  other  plants 
cannot  be  made  to  grow  upon  them  until  they  become  thoroughly 
decomposed ;  and,  in  that  case,  no  soils  yield  a  more  luxuriant 
or  richer  vegetation.  In  truth,  they  require  to  be  reduced  to  the 
state  of  fine  mould,  and  the  greater  portion  of  the  saltness  ex- 
hausted, which  time  itself  will  eifect  where  they  are  kept  from 
the  access  of  the  tide,  in  order  to  be  in  a  condition  favorable  to 
the  growth  of  other  than  marine  or  saline  plants. 


LXXL  — LOAMY   SOILS. 

Next  to  peaty  soils,  I  have  to  speak  of  what  are  called  loamy 
soils.  These  are  not  very  well  defined.  There  has  been  much 
debate  as  to  what  constitutes  loam  or  mould  ;  but  if  it  be  difficult 
to  define  it  with  exactness,  there  is  no  great  difficulty  with  prac- 
tical men  in  understanding  what  is  intended  by  it.  I  suppose 
the  proper  definition  of  mould  to  be  decayed  vegetable  matter, 
and  of  loam  to  be  that  portion  of  the  soil  in  which  this  mould,  or 
decayed  vegetable  matter,  (or  humus,  as  it  is  technically  called,) 
is  mixed  up  with  other  common  mineral  elements,  such  as  sand, 
clay,  and  lime,  and  in  a  state  of  fineness  and  equal  or  diffusive 
commixture.  I  do  not  know  that  any  great  error  would  be  com- 
mitted by  considering  mould  and  loam  as  synonymous,  and  by 
saying  that  mould  or  loam  is  a  rich,  unctuous,  dark-colored  mat- 
ter, abounding  in  vegetable  as  well  as  mineral  substances,  found 
usually  on  the  surface  of  fields,  especially  of  those  which  have 
been  cultivated,  or  those  which  are  entirely  in  a  state  of  nature  ; 
and  of  various  depths,  from  inches  to  feet.  In  the  rich  valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  I  have  seen  it  extending  to  a  depth  of  twelve  and 
eighteen  feet,  and  of  extraordinary  richness.  In  cases  of  pure 
sand  01  clay,  little  or  nothing  of  this  is  to  be  found.     In  chalk 


HUMUS,    OR    VEGETABLE    MOULD.  413 

soils,  its  depth  is  usually  very  small.  It  constitutes  the  rich  and 
fertile  upper  stratum  of  a  soil  which  is  usually  cultivated  by  the 
plough  ;  and  it  becomes  gradually  deepened  as  the  land  is  culti- 
vated and  manured.  The  depth  of  this  loam  or  mould  may  be 
considered,  in  general,  as  the  best  test  of  the  goodness  of  the  soil, 
or  its  productive  character.  I  know  that  this  is  sometimes 
denied.  The  dark-colored  condition  of  the  upper  stratum  is  not 
always  an  indication  of  mould,  for  occasionally  there  is  met  with 
an  upper  stratum  of  deep  sand,  colored  with  some  mineral  sub- 
stance, which  is  almost  utterly  barren,  and  very  difficult  of  im- 
provement ;  but  ordinarily,  other  circumstances  being  equal,  the 
surest  test  of  the  fertility  of  a  soil  is  the  depth  of  the  vegetable 
mould  or  loam  on  the  surface. 

Loamy  soils  receive  their  particular  designation  from  the 
mineral  substance  with  which  they  abound ;  thus  we  speak  of 
sandy  loams,  or  clayey  loams,  from  the  predominance  of  either 
of  these  substances  in  the  soil ;  and  undoubtedly  the  richest  of 
all  soils  is  that  in  which  there  is  an  intermixture  of  various 
elements  —  some  one  says,  where  lime,  clay,  and  sand,  are  mixed 
in  equal  proportions  with  mould,  or  decayed  vegetable  matter  ; 
but  it  is  not  certain  that  the  exact  proportions  are  ascertained. 


LXXII.  —  HUMUS,   OR   VEGETABLE   MOULD. 

The  substance  designated  as  vegetable  mould,  or  humus,  in 
its  pure  or  unmixed  state,  is  not  an  infallible  indication  of  the 
fertility  of  a  soil,  as  I  have  already  stated  in  respect  to  peat 
formations.  Liebig  refers  to  the  soils  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Mount  Vesuvius,  composed  wholly  of  matter  thrown  from  the 
crater,  as  highly  fertile.  "  The  land  in  the  vicinity  of  Vesuvius 
may  be  considered  as  the  type  of  a  fertile  soil,  and  its  fertility  is 
greater  or  less,  in  different  parts,  according  to  the  proportion  of 
clay  or  sand  which  it  contains.  The  soil  which  is  formed  by 
the  disintegration  of  lava  cannot  possibly,  on  account  of  its 
origin,  contain  the  smallest  trace  of  vegetaC^le  matter  ;  and  yet 
35* 


414  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

it  is  well  known  that,  when  the  volcanic  ashes  have  been  exposed 
for  some  time  to  the  influence  of  air  and  moisture,  a  soil  is  grad- 
ually formed  in  which  all  kinds  of  plants  grow  with  the  greatest 
luxuriance.  This  fertility  is  owing  to  the  alkalies  which  are 
contained  in  the  lava,  and  which,  by  exposure  to  the  weather, 
are  rendered  capable  of  being  absorbed  by  plants.  Thousands 
of  years  have  been  necessary  to  convert  stones  and  rocks  into 
the  soil  of  arable  land ;  and  thousands  of  years  more  will  be 
requisite  for  their  perfect  reduction  —  that  is,  for  the  complete 
exhaustion  of  their  alkalies." 

This  is  a  very  extraordinary  statement,  and,  without  implying 
any  distrust  of  the  authority  on  which  it  is  made,  is  certainly 
not  consonant  to  general  experience.  General  experience  would 
seem  to  show  that  soils  without  any  vegetable  mould  are  not 
productive,  and  most  practical  farmers  would  prefer,  of  all  others, 
a  soil  where  the  vegetable  matter,  well  compounded,  existed  in 
abundance,  forming,  as  it  is  termed,  a  deep  and  rich  loam.  But 
it  would  seem  that,  in  the  case  to  which  Liebig  refers,  thousands 
of  years  are  necessary  to  render  a  mass  of  lava  fertile,  and  in 
such  a  case  it  might  be  fairly  presumed  that  some  vegetable 
matter  might  accumulate  and  produce  the  desired  mixture.  I 
do  not  presume  to  call  in  question  an  authority  so  distinguished, 
and  for  which  no  man  has  more  respect  than  myself;  but  I 
could  wish  that  we  had  more  facts  in  the  case,  or  that  they  were 
more  definitely  stated. 

Until  recently,  almost  all  agriculturists,  both  the  scientific  and 
practical,  have  considered  the  quantity  of  vegetable  matter 
contained  in  a  soil  as  the  test  of  its  fertility.  A  prejudice  so 
universal,  and  so  long  established,  would  seem,  on  those  grounds, 
strongly  entitled  to  respect.  It  has  been  as  well  understood 
that  vegetable  matter  alone,  as  in  the  case  of  peat,  and  this  but 
partially  decomposed,  was  not  fertile.  But  the  opinion  of  the 
connection  of  vegetable  mould  with  fertility  applied  to  vege- 
table matter  in  a  state  of  comminution  and  intermixture  Avith 
other  elements  of  a  soil,  and  here  the  fertility  of  the  land  has 
been  understood  to  bear  a  very  close  relation  to  its  predominance 
or  deficiency.  Peat  itself,  when  thoroughly  decomposed,  has 
been  found  a  most  efficient  manure.  The  efi"ects  constantly 
accruing  from  the  application  of  decayed  vegetable  matter  to  the 


HUMUS,    OR    VEGETABLE    MOULD.  415 


soil,  from  the  application  of  the  dung  of  cattle,  which  is  in  the 
main  decomposed  vegetable  matter,  and  the  extraordinarily 
luxuriant  vegetation  always  appearing  upon  dung-heaps  left  on 
the  field,  or  upon  places  where  dung-heaps  have  been  formed, 
seemed  to  speak  the  same  language.  The  supposition  has  been, 
that  this  vegetable  matter  constituted,  in  fact,  a  part  of  the  food 
of  plants,  and  went  to  assist  in  forming  their  substance. 

The  doctrine  of  Liebig  denies  directly  the  supposition  that 
this  humus,  or  vegetable  matter,  is  taken  up  as  the  food  of  plants, 
because,  where  a  forest  grows,  the  vegetable  matter  in  and  upon 
the  soil  actually  increases,  instead  of  diminishing ;  but  then, 
although,  in  the  case  above  referred  to,  of  the  volcanic  soils  near 
Mount  Vesuvius,  one  might  be  led  to  infer  that  he  considered  it 
of  no  moment,  yet  this  I  think  would  be  doing  him  an  injustice. 
He  does  consider  the  humus  of  the  soil  as  furnishing,  in  its 
decay,  a  necessary  supply  of  carbonic  acid  to  the  plant  in  the 
process  of  germination,  though  of  no  use  after  the  plant  gets 
above  ground;  and  he  supposes  that  the  manures  of  animals 
fed  upon  the  product  of  the  land  return  to  the  land  those 
mineral  elements  which  they  took  from  it,  and  which  are  indis- 
pensable to  their  perfect  formation.  This  may  be  so  ;  and  in 
this  view  he  does  not  deny  the  value  of  vegetable  mould,  or 
humus.  But  certainly  there  was  nothing  improbable  in  the 
supposition  that  plants  might  have  found  some  portion  of  their 
food  in  those  decayed  substances  which  once  constituted  a  part 
of  the  substance  of  their  predecessors.  Indeed,  I  see  as  yet  no 
sufficient  grounds  to  conclude  that  their  office  in  supplying 
carbon  to  the  growing  plant  ceases  as  soon  as  the  plant  is  above 
ground,  and  able,  as  he  supposes,  to  gain  its  own  supplies  for 
itself  from  the  atmosphere.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  growth 
of  a  forest  would  be  checked,  and  the  amount  of  humus  in  the 
soil  be  diminished,  if  all  the  decayed  leaves  and  limbs,  which 
fall  from  the  trees,  were  constantly  removed ;  and  it  is  as  certain 
that  the  continual  cultivation  of  land,  without  supplies  of  manure, 
exhausts  its  vegetable  mould ;  and  that  the  application  of  vege- 
table manures  to  crops  in  a  growing  state  is  often  as  efficacious 
as  when  applied,  or  ploughed  in,  with  the  seed. 


416  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


LXXIII.  —  PECULIARITIES   OF   SOIL. 

There  are  some  characteristics  of  diifereut  soils  which  seem 
to  be  generally  admitted  by  practical  men,  but  not  very  well 
defined.  Thus  some  soils  are  deemed  much  better  than  others 
for  the  production  of  beef,  others  for  that  of  butter,  others  for 
that  of  cheese  ,•  and  I  found  farmers,  in  some  of  the  dairy  districts, 
going  so  far  as  to  assert  that  cheese  could  not  be  made  on  some 
soils,  or  rather,  as  I  inferred  from  their  remarks,  could  not  be 
made  to  so  much  advantage  as  on  others.  But  this,  it  seemed  to 
me,  could  only  be  an  indirect  inference.  That  these  products, 
both  in  quality  and  quantity,  depend  much  upon  the  nature  of 
the  plants  upon  which  the  animals  are  fed,  is  an  obvious  fact ; 
and  that  some  soils  may  be  more  favorable  than  others  to  the 
production  of  such  kinds  of  plants  as  are  particularly  suited  to 
particular  uses  or  objects,  I  could  easily  understand ;  but  any 
other  connection  of  the  products  with  the  nature  of  the  soil 
seemed  to  me  far  from  being  established.  To  speak,  therefore, 
of  a  cheesy  soil,  as  I  heard  in  some  dairy  districts,  seemed  to 
me  of  questionable  propriety,  as,  under  an  intelligent  agriculture, 
I  could  hardly  doubt  that  a  different  species  of  herbage  might  be 
cultivated  upon  the  same  soil  which  now  produced  that  which 
was  unfavorable. 

I  have  given  these  brief  notices  of  the  general  character  of 
soils  in  England,  of  which  the  counterparts  may  be  found  in  the 
United  States.  I  have  given  them  in  terms  which  will,  I  think, 
be  understood  by  the  commonest  farmer.  I  could  without  any 
difficulty  have  borrowed  learning  enough  for  the  occasion,  and 
have  talked  philosophically  in  the  case ;  but  in  all  I  have  read  on 
the  subject,  I  have  as  yet  discovered  no  practical  advantage  to  the 
general  mass  of  readers,  from  so  viewing  it,  beyond  what  is 
secured  by  more  simple  statements.  The  importance  of  the 
nature  of  the  soil  to  the  husbandman,  who  spends  his  labor  upon 
it,  is  very  great.  Some  of  the  mineral  ingredients,  which  are 
found  in  the  soil,  are  indispensable  to  vegetation.  Those  which 
are  found  in  the  plants  can  only  be  received  from  the  soil ;  but 
it  is  a  singular  fact  that,  in  case  of  a  deficiency,  one  may  some- 
times be  substituted  for  another.     ''  Potash  is  not  the  only  sub- 


APPLICATION    OF    CHEMISTRY    TO    AGRICULTURE.  417 

Stance  necessary  for  the  existence  of  most  plants ;  indeed,  it  has 
been  already  shown  that  the  potash  may  be  replaced,  in  many 
cases,  by  soda,  magnesia,  or  lime."* 


LXXIV.  —  APPLICATION   OF    CHEMISTRY    TO   AGRI- 
CULTURE. 

It  must  not  be  inferred,  from  any  remark  which  has  fallen  from 
me,  that  I  overlook  the  value  of  chemical  science  and  inquiry  in 
respect  to  agriculture.  An  inference  of  that  nature  would  do  me 
a  great  injustice.  Our  obligations  in  this  matter  are  already  very 
great,  and  more  and  wider  triumphs  are  to  be  looked  for.  But  two 
or  three  things,  in  this  case,  appear  to  me  deserving  of  considera- 
tion, and  likely  to  moderate  an  excessive  confidence.  The  first 
is,  that  vegetation,  and  consequently  cultivation,  in  the  most  scien- 
tific sense  of  the  term,  is  not  so  simple  a  matter  as  some  persons 
would  have  us  imagine.  How,  for  example,  particular  plants  from 
the  same  soil  are  capable  of  extracting  entirely  difierent  sub- 
stances, according  to  their  own  peculiar  and  individual  charac- 
ters, each  one  preserving  its  own  identity  in  form,  taste,  odor, 
color,  fruit,  and  use,  is  not  yet  explained.  The' explanation  is  not 
even  approached.  In  the  second  place,  it  seems  assuming  quite 
too  much  to  suppose  that  all  the  processes  of  vegetation  are  to  be 
resolved  into  mere  chemical  processes  —  understanding  by  chem- 
ical processes  those  laws  or  operations  of  which  chemistry  has 
attained  a  knowledge.  The  remarks  which  I  have  just  made 
seem  to  demonstrate  this.  In  the  next  place,  the  knowledge 
which  chemistry  has  already  furnished,  either  of  the  nature  of 
soils  or  manures,  or  of  the  phenomena  of  vegetation,  has  not  as 
yet  been  of  so  practical  a  character  as  is  to  be  hoped  for ;  and  it 
would  seem  extremely  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  to  meet  on 
any  extended  scale  the  diversities  of  soil  which  it  has  illustrated.. 
The  newly-invented  manure,  to  which  I  have  above  referred^ 
should  it  be  found  to  equal  what  it  seems  to  promise,  may 
fully  meet  this  objection,  and  thus  effect  an  important  stride- 
in  agricultural  improvement. 

*  Liebiof. 


4tS  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 


LXXV.  — THEORY   OF   AGRICULTURE. 

The  present  theory  of  agriculture  assumes  that  plants  consist 
of  two  species  of  matter  —  vegetable  and  mineral ;  that  the  former 
is  derived  wholly  from  water  and  the  air,  and  the  latter  from  the 
soil.  The  plant  is  not  perfected  without  the  conjoint  aid  of 
both.  The  former  consists  of  oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon,  and 
nitrogen  ;  and  the  latter  of  at  least  eight  different  kinds  of  mineral 
substances.  The  latter  are  found  in  the  ashes  of  plants,  and  are 
indestructible.  They  consist  usually  of  four  acids  and  four 
alkalies  ;  —  silicic  acid,  phosphoric  acid,  sulphuric  acid,  and  mu- 
riatic acid ;  and,  of  the  alkalies,  potash,  soda,  lime,  and  magnesia. 
Other  mineral  substances  are  found  ;  but  these  which  I  have 
enumerated  are  the  principal.  Boussingault  thus  designates 
them  :  "  The  residue  left  by  the  combustion  is  commonly  com- 
posed of  salts ;  alkaline  chlorides,  with  bases  of  potash  and  soda ; 
earthy  and  metallic  phosphates ;  caustic  or  carbonated  lime  and 
magnesia  ;  silica ;  and  oxides  of  iron  and  of  manganese.  Several 
other  substances  are  also  met  with  there,  but  in  quantities  so 
small  that  they  may  be  neglected."  * 

The  mineral  substances  found  in  the  ashes  of  plants  may  be 
supplied  by  art ;  yet  whether  to  be  applied  to  the  land  in  a  direct 
and  simple,  or  in  a  combined  or  mixed  form,  and,  if  so,  how  com- 
bined and  mixed,  are  points  not  as  yet  determined.  It  is  certain 
that  there  is  only  one  form  in  which  they  can  be  taken  up  by 
the  plants,  and  that  is,  in  as  extreme  a  degree  of  solubility  as 
they  are  capable  of  being  reduced  to.  Whether  they  shall  be  so 
reduced  before  they  are  applied,  —  whether,  for  example,  they  shall 
be  presented  to  the  plants  in  a  solid  or  a  liquid  form,  or  whether 
they  shall  be  by  any  art  prepared,  or  it  shall  be  left  to  the  vital 
operations  of  the  plant  to  prepare  them, — are  points  yet  to  be 
determined.  These  questions  will  naturally  present  themselves 
again  when  the  subject  of  manures  is  considered. 

In  respect  to  the  organic  parts  of  vegetables,  —  those  which  form 
their  largest  portion,  and  consisting  of  oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon, 
and  nitrogen,  —  the  two  former  are  understood  to  be  supplied  by 
water,  the  carbon  by  the  atmosphere,  and  the  nitrogen,  consti- 

*  Boussingault,  p.  54. 


THEORY    OF    AGRICULTURE.  419 

tilting  the  nutritious  part  of  the  vegetable,  from  ammonia,  which 
is  itself  a  compound  of  nitrogen  and  hydrogen,  and  supplied 
partially  by  rain,  by  the  decay  or  putrefaction  of  animal  matter, 
and  in  the  excrements  of  animals.  In  the  escape  of  ammonia 
from  our  dung  heaps,  it  is  supposed  a  great  portion  of  their  most 
valuable  material  passes  off  j  and  attempts  have  been  made  to  fix 
this  volatile  substance,  so  as  to  secure  it  for  the  service  of  the 
plants,  to  be  taken  up  by  them  as  required.  For  this  purpose, 
gypsum  has  been  strongly  recommended  to  be  sprinkled  in 
stables,  and  to  be  spread  upon  manure  heaps.  It  is  quite  doubtful 
whether  its  effect  has  met  the  sanguine  expectations  which  were 
formed  of  it.  In  the  report  given  by  Professor  Henslow,  which 
he  has  been  kind  enough  to  send  me,  of  fifteen  attempts  to  fix 
ammonia  by  the  application  of  gypsum  to  dung,  the  result  seems 
to  leave  the  question  wholly  undetermined.  His  conclusions 
from  these  experiments  are  given  in  this  result:  *'It  will  be 
seen  that,  with  turnips,  the  effect  has  been  uniformly  in  favor  of 
gypsumed  dung.  With  the  straw  of  wheat,  the  result  is  twice 
in  favor  of  the  gypsumed  dung,  once  against  it,  and  in  one  case 
there  is  no  difference.  In  respect  to  the  wheat  itself,  it  is  six 
times  in  favor  of  the  gypsumed  dung,  and  six  times  against  it. 
The  practical  inference  to  be  deduced  from  this  part  of  the 
inquiry  favors  the  idea  of  using  gypsumed  dung  for  a  turnip 
crop,  but  shows  that  it  produces  no  better  effect  than  ungyp- 
sumed  dung  upon  a  wheat  crop."  Such  results  certainly  lead 
to  no  very  strong  conclusions.  But  the  beneficial  effects  of 
covering  manure  heaps  with  mould,  in  order,  in  the  first  place,  to 
prevent  the  escape  of  the  volatile  parts  of  the  manure,  and,  in 
the  next  place,  to  absorb  the  gases,  —  so  that  the  soil  used  for  a 
covering  becomes  itself  a  valuable  manure,  —  are  points  long  ago 
determined  by  the  practice  of  many  enlightened  farmers. 

Whatever  may  be  the  success  or  the  ill  success  of  dealing 
with  the  mineral  qualities  of  the  soil,  or  with  those  subtile  gases 
of  which  vegetables  are  composed,  there  are  processes  of  a  prac- 
tical nature  to  be  applied,  the  propriety  and  utility  of  which  are 
established.  The  practice  of  agriculture  is  still  very  much  in 
advance  of  the  theory  of  agriculture.  I  do  not  undervalue 
scientific  agriculture.  Science  may  do  as  much  for  agriculture 
as  for  any  other  department  of  business,  or  art,  or  health,  or 
comfort,   or   enjoyment.      In   no   department   is   success  more 


420  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

desirable,  or  would  it  prove  more  extensively  beneficial.  The 
human  mind  finds  the  greatest  of  all  delights  in  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge,  and  is  impelled  by  an  instinctive  impulse  "to 
search  into  the  causes  of  things."  A  man,  if  familiar  with  the 
place  and  route,  may  find  his  way,  if  the  lamps  were  not  lighted, 
even  of  a  dark  night,  in  the  labyrinthine  streets  of  London  ;  but 
he  must  proceed  slowly  and  doubtingly,  and  may  tumble  into 
an  open  sewer,  or  run  against  a  post,  or  encounter  other  obstruc- 
tions more  yielding  than  the  post,  yet  twice  as  dangerous.  But 
since  science  has  kindled  the  beautiful  and  far-reaching  silver 
flame  of  gas,  and  converted  night  into  day,  he  walks  in  security 
and  confidence ;  he  escapes,  if  he  has  wisdom  so  to  choose, 
all  perilous  obstructions ;  and  he  reaches  his  destination  by  the 
most  direct,  the  most  expeditious,  and  a  certain  route. 


LXXVI.  —  ACTUAL  IMPROVEMENTS 

The  soil  must  be  the  great  object  of  the  farmer's  attention ; 
.and  here  he  may  accomplish  much.  I  mean  much  relatively, 
and  with  a  due  consideration  of  the  limitations  by  whicth  human 
power  is  always  hemmed  in.  Light  and  heat,  sunshine  and 
rain,  wind  and  frost,  and  many  other  influences  most  important 
to  vegetation,  of  which  as  yet  the  human  imagination  has  not,  in 
all  probability,  taken  cognizance  or  conceived,  are  wholly  beyond 
his  control  or  dictate.  Arrogant  and  presumptuous  as  he  is,  the 
earth  could  not  contain  him,  if  he  were  not  chained  down  by 
the  fact  of  his  absolute  dependence.  There  is  a  beautiful  moral 
in  the  mythological  fable  of  Jove's  having  given  the  reins  to 
Phaeton,  and  the  disastrous  consequences  which  followed.  But 
the  ameliorations  which  an  improved  agriculture  may  eff'ect  are 
great,  and  sufficiently  encouraging  to  the  loftiest  self-esteem. 
A  wet  soil  may  be  drained ;  a  dry  soil  may  be  irrigated.  A 
barren  soil  may  be  enriched ;  a  rich  soil  may  be  made  more 
fertile  and  productive.  A  thin  soil  may  be  deepened  ;  a  heavy 
soil  may  be  made  lighter  ;  a  loose  soil  may  be  made  more  com- 
pact.    A  bleak  soil  may  be  sheltered  ;  and  an  unfavorable  aspect 


PLOUGHING.  421 

may  be  alleviated.  Waste  lands  may  be  converted  into  fertile 
fields,  and  a  growth  of  nauseous  or  unnutritious  weeds  sup- 
planted by  bending  sheaves  of  golden  grain.  Rivers  may  be 
diverted  from  their  tortuous  courses,  now  rendering  vast  tracts 
of  land  inaccessible,  and  made  to  flow  in  straight  lines,  leaving 
their  recovered  banks  open  to  the  plough  ;  and  immense  extents 
of  the  richest  alluvial  lands  may  be  rescued  from  the  sea  —  the 
feeble  arm  of  human  art  and  industry  drive  back  the  spoiler,  and 
stay  even  his  proudest  waves.  All  these  noble  triumphs  English 
agriculture  has  achieved ;  and  I  shall  talie  pains  to  lay  them 
before  my  readers.  What  I  propose  to  do  then  further,  in  this 
number,  is,  to  detail  their  various  improvements,  and  then  to 
speak  of  the  adaptation  of  particular  soils  to  those  purposes  for 
which  experience  has  shown  them  best  fitted. 


LXXVII.  —  PLOUGHING. 

The  first  and  most  general  operation,  to  which  the  soil  is  sub- 
jected, is  ploughing.  Man  must  have  been  early  taught  that,  in 
order  to  render  the  earth  productive,  it  must  be  tilled  ;  and  it 
would  be  extremely  curious,  if  the  materials  of  such  history 
were  attainable,  to  trace  the  progress  of  improvement  from  the 
first  instrument  employed  to  stir  the  earth  to  the  present  beautiful 
and  mgenious  implement,  by  which  acres,  and  miles  of  acres,  are 
at  pleasure  inverted.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  the 
North  xA.merican  Indians  cultivated  their  corn  (maize)  when  the 
country  was  discovered ;  tradition  has  not  preserved  the  traces 
of  the  method  which  they  adopted.  Their  implements  must 
have  been  few,  and  of  the  most  simple  description.  The  smooth 
stones,  some  of  which  I  have  myself  found  in  places  known  as 
their  favorite  haunts,  of  a  wedge  shape,  may  have  been  used  for 
digging  the  ground  for  the  deposit  of  the  seed,  and  perhaps  for 
keeping  the  soil  loose  round  the  plants :  near  the  sea-shore  a 
clam-shell  may  have  answered  the  same  purpose.  Of  weeds, 
probably  they  had  few  to  contend  with,  as  the  land  was  new  and 
not  surcharged  with  manure,  of  which  perhaps  they  did  not  know 
36 


422 


EUROPEAN     AGRlCLLTLTiE. 


the  use,  since,  within  the  memory  of  persons  now  living,  farmers 
in  the  vicinity  of  Albany  were  accustomed  to  cart  the  manure 
from  their  barns  on  to  the  Hudson  when  frozen,  and  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Montreal  on  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  that,  at  the 
breaking  of  the  ice  in  the  spring,  it  might  be  carried  away  by  the 
stream.  Even  much  more  recently,  in  some  parts  of  the  country, 
farmers,  when  they  have  found  the  piles  of  manure  round  their 
barns  accumulated  to  an  inconvenient  size,  have  preferred  to 
desert  them,  and  build  other  barns,  rather  than  be  at  the  trouble 
and  expense  of  removing  these  heaps.  One  is  often  amused  at 
hearing  people  boast  of  ''  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors  ;  "  and,  to 
be  consistent,  we  should  expect  to  see  such  persons  adjusting  the 
equilibrium  of  a  bag  of  grain  upon  the  horse's  back  by  putting 
the  corn  in  one  end  and  a  stone  in  the  other. 

When  I  come  to  treat  of  the  implements  of  husbandry,  I  shall 
describe  an  English  plough  ;  at  present  I  have  to  deal  only  with 
the  operation  itself. 

I  think  I  may  say  that,  in  England  and  Scotland,  the  art  of 
ploughing  has  reached  perfection,  and  that  it  is  unrivalled  and 
unsurpassable.  This  at  least  is  my  opinion,  which  must  be  taken 
at  what  it  is  worth.  I  cannot  conceive  how  it  can  be  improved ; 
and  this  not  in  rare  instances,  and  at  ploughing  matches,  but  I 
may  say  universally.  In  some  cases,  the  work  has  been  done 
better  than  in  others ;  but  I  have  not  seen  an  example  of  bad 
ploughing  in  the  country ;  I  have  not  seen  one  which,  in  the 
United  States,  would  not  be  pronounced  superior. 


LXXVIII.  --  THE  ENGLISH  CHARACTER  —  A  DIGRESSION. 

It  may  be  thought  a  little  out  of  the  way,  but  I  will  take  this 
occasion  to  say,  that  the  English  know  what  right  lines  are.  It 
is  but  just  to  say  of  them  that  of  which  I  am  convinced,  after  a 
familiar  and  close  observation,  —  that  they  are  an  upright  people  ; 
that  they  have,  with  as  few  exceptions  as  are  ordinarily  to  be 
expected  in  a  commercial  community,  none  of  that  slyness 
which  some  men  chuckle  over  as  a  commendable  quality,  but 


THE  PERFECTION  OF  PLOUGHING.  423 

which,  though  it  may  mount  a  fine  beaver  and  wear  the  best 
Saxony  broadcloth,  is  only  a  soft  name  for  villany  ;  that  their 
habits,  like  their  ploughing,  are  direct  and  straight-forward,  and 
are  opposed  to  all  balks  and  all  tortuous  windings.  I  thank 
God  that  the  blood  of  such  a  people  flows  in  my  veins ;  for  I 
look  upon  honesty  as  the  true  nobility  of  man,  and  the  only  aris- 
tocracy to  which  my  heart  burns  to  pay  always  its  spontaneous 
and  unclaimed  homage.  "An  honest  man  is  the  noblest  work  of 
God ;  "  a  passage,  of  which  a  facetious  divine,  a  man  as  true  as 
he  was  witty,  once  said,  "If  it  were  not  in  the  Scriptures,  it 
ought  to  be.'* 


LXXIX.  —  THE   PERFECTION   OF   PLOUGHING. 

The  perfection  of  any  art  consists  in  its  accomplishment  of  its 
particular  object  in  the  best  manner,  and  by  the  simplest  means. 
The  perfection  of  ploughing  consists  in  its  performing  its  work 
exactly  as  you  wish  or  require  to  have  it  done.  You  wish 
the  surface  soil  of  your  field  completely  inverted.  You  wish 
this  to  be  done  at  a  particular  depth,  and  the  furrow-slice  to  be 
cut  in  perfectly  direct  lines.  You  desire  it  to  be  of  a  certain 
width  and  certain  thickness,  and  the  same  in  every  part  of  the 
field.  You  require  that  it  should  be  raised  without  breaking,  and 
either  laid  completely  flat  upon  its  back,  or  made  to  recline  upon 
its  neighbor  at  a  particular  angle  of  inclination  ;  and  you  wish  it 
so  done  that,  if  it  be  greensward,  every  portion  of  the  herbage 
shall  be  completely  shut  in,  and  not  a  spire  shall  dare  show  its 
head  between  the  furrows,  any  more  than  a  straggling  French- 
man on  the  field  after  the  battle  of  Waterloo.  And  you  want 
this  performed  at  the  rate  of  about  an  acre  a  day  of  eight  hours' 
work,  with  your  team  moving  at  the  rate  of  two  miles  or  two 
miles  and  a  quarter  per  hour,  so  that  they  may  work  comfortably 
every  day  in  the  week.  You  desire  your  ploughman  to  follow 
his  team,  and  execute  his  part  with  entire  attention  to  what  he  is 
about,  without  perturbation,  without  sweating,  without  fretting, 
and  especially  without  swearing,  which  some  men  whom  I  have 
known,  both  at  ploughing  matches  and  in  their  own  fields,  have 


424  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

deemed  indispensable  to  the  proper  performance  of  their  worK ; 
in  which  matter  I  beg  leave  to  say  I  always  entirely  differed  from 
them  in  opinion,  having  never  yet  discovered  any  reason 
why  men,  who  assume  to  belong  to  the  order  of  rational  animals, 
should,  by  their  passion  and  the  indecency  and  profaneness  of 
their  language,  degrade  themselves  below  the  brute  animals 
which  they  undertake  to  govern.  Now,  in  all  the  particulars 
which  I  have  pointed  out,  the  ploughing  here  will  be  done  exactly 
according  to  a  prescribed  form.  I  ssfid,  in  my  first  report,  that 
the  ploughed  land  resembled  a  ruffle  just  come  from  under  the 
crimping  iron.     The  representation  is  perfect. 


LXXX.  —  PLOUGHING    MATCH    AT    SAFFRON    WALDEN. 

I  attended,  among  several  others,  a  ploughing  match  at  Saffron 
Walden,  where  there  were  at  least  ten  competitors,  with  lots  of 
an  eighth  of  an  acre ;  and,  as  well  as  I  can  remember,  the 
furrow-slices  were  to  be  seven  inches  in  width  and  five  inches 
in  depth.  It  was  not  a  match  against  time,  although  the  work 
was  required  to  be  completed  within  a  certain  time.  I  do  not 
misstate  when  I  say  that  I  do  not  believe  there  was  the  variation 
of  an  inch,  in  the  whole  field,  in  the  width  or  depth  of  the 
furrow,  or  a  single  crooked  line,  or  even  one  solitary  balk. 
The  fields  or  lands  were  struck  out  before  beginning.  Two 
horses  composed  a  team,  and  the  ploughman  was  his  own  driver. 
Some  boys  under  eighteen  were  allowed  to  enter  as  competitors 
for  boys'  premiums.  I  went  over  the  field  in  an  ecstasy  of 
admiration  at  its  uniformity,  neatness,  exactness,  and  beauty. 

There  were  some  peculiar  regulations  adopted  on  this  occasion, 
to  which  I  may  properly  refer.  Ploughmen  who  had  obtained  a 
first-prize  premium  on  any  former  occasion,  for  ploughing,  were 
disqualified,  by  the  rules  of  the  society,  from  entering  into  the 
general  competition.  But,  with  a  view  "  of  giving  such  merito- 
rious ploughmen  another  opportunity  of  showing  that  their  skill 
and  energies  remain  unimpaired,"  a  special  competition  was 
offered   to   them,  and   seven  prizes .  were   proposed  —  the   first 


PLOUGHING    MATCH    AT    SAFFRON    WALDEN.  425 

amounting,  in  money  and  clothing,  to  £8  10s.,  or  about  $43,  the 
lowest  to  £2  10s.,  or  more  than  $12,  and  the  unsuccessful  com- 
petitors, to  the  number  of  seven,  were  to  receive  £1  each. 
This  was  putting  them  through  a  fine  sieve,  so  as  to  come  at 
the  best  quality.  A  premium  of  five  guineas  was  likewise 
ofiered  to  the  farmer  who  had  employed  the  greatest  number 
of  ploughboys  on  his  occupation,  in  proportion  to  acreage,  for 
the  preceding  year,  provided  one  of  the  boys  in  his  employ 
should  have  obtained  a  prize  for  ploughing  at  the  Annual  Meet- 
ing. Such  a  premium  as  this  seemed  well  suited  to  induce  the 
farmers  to  give  particular  attention  to  the  improvement  of  the 
lads  in  their  service.  Two  circumstances  contribute  strongly  to 
the  perfecting  of  this  most  essential  art.  The  first  is,  that  boys 
are  trained  to  it  as  early  as  they  can  possibly  be  employed  with 
safety.  The  second  is,  the  division  of  labor  which  generally 
prevails,  so  that  individuals  devote  themselves,  to  a  degree 
exclusively,  to  one  particular  object ;  a  ploughman  is  constantly 
employed  at  the  plough,  and  a  herdsman  in  the  pastures,  or  stalls. 

There  are  two  points,  which  have  seemed  to  me  always  par- 
ticularly to  test  the  skill  of  a  ploughman.  The  one  is  the  mode 
in  which  he  lays  out  his  land,  and  strikes  the  first  furrow ;  and 
the  second,  that  in  which  he  finishes  the  last  furrow.  In  the 
case  to  which  I  have  referred,  the  last  land  remained,  at  the  close, 
a  single  unbroken  strip  of  equal  width,  from  one  end  of  the  field 
to  the  other,  lying  like  a  stretched-out  ribbon,  which,  as  the 
ploughman  came  down  the  course,  he  turned  without  breaking, 
and  with  perfect  precision,  from  one  end  to  the  other.  In  this 
instance,  the  horses  seemed  almost  as  well  trained  as  the  driver, 
and  inspired  with  an  equal  emulation.  The  finishing  of  the 
ends  of  the  lands  is  always  a  work  of  great  care  ;  they  are  cross- 
ploughed,  and  the  whole  aff*air  is  completed  with  an  equal  neat- 
ness throughout. 

I  have  seen  very  good  ploughing  in  the  United  States,  and 
perhaps  in  no  department  of  agriculture  has  greater  improvement 
taken  place  than  in  ploughing,  and  in  the  construction  of 
ploughs.  Formerly,  nothing  could  be  more  slovenly  executed. 
A  straight  line  was  not  to  be  seen.  The  land  was  not  half 
turned  over.  The  furrows  were  of  such  depth  or  thickness  as 
they  might  chance  to  be  ;  and  the  plough  itself,  when  in  action, 
resembled  very  much  a  live  animal,  with  a  sort  of  grasshopper 
36* 


426  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

motion,  which  one  man  at  the  stilts,  and  often  two  men  riding 
upon  the  beam,  were  struggling  to  keep  down,  and,  like  police 
officers,  to  prevent  its  escape.  A  man  was  always  required,  like- 
wise, with  a  hoe,  to  assist  in  turning  the  furrow-slice  at  the  end 
of  the  share,  or  in  the  discouraging  duty  of  raising  again,  and 
turning  over  by  main  force,  those  furrow-slices  which,  notwith- 
standing they  had  been  raised  by  the  plough,  like  a  reluctant 
boy  pulled  out  of  bed  in  the  morning,  with  his  eyes  half  open, 
insist  upon  getting  back  again  as  soon  as  the  master's  back  is 
turned.  1  remember  many  a  thump  on  the  breast  from  the 
handles  of  the  plough,  and  many  a  sudden  jerk,  which  has 
thrown  me  upon  the  furrow,  when  I  have  been  riding  on  the 
beam,  and  many  a  splitting  of  a  beam,  and  many  a  breaking  of 
a  share ;  and  have  looked  back  with  dismay  upon  a  long  furrow- 
slice  obstinately  turning  back  into  the  furrow,  after  I  had  sup- 
posed it  securely  laid  over.  Somewhat  of  this  experience  may 
have  been  necessary,  to  enable  me  to  estimate  properly  the  excel- 
lence of  English  ploughing,  when  the  implement  seemed  to 
move  through  the  ground  with  as  much  quietness,  directness,  ease, 
—  I  may  almost  add  grace, — as  a  boat  through  the  water,  with 
its  sails  spread  to  a  favoring  breeze,  and  an  accomplished  steers- 
man at  the  helm.  Some  allowance  is  to  be  made  for  the  con- 
dition of  our  fields,  compared  with  the  English  fields.  Here 
there  are  no  stumps  of  trees,  and  no  stones,  to  impede  or  derange 
the  plough.  With  us,  alas  !  in  many  cases,  the  stumps  and  stones 
remain  in  resolute  opposition,  to  dispute  our  entrance,  and,  like 
bad  tenants,  can  be  dispossessed  only  by  main  force. 

I  know  that  some  may  ask,  What  is  the  use  of  doing  things 
with  so  much  care  ?  I  answer,  in  particular,  that,  the  field  being 
more  thoroughly  worked,  the  advantages  to  the  crops,  both  in  the 
suppression  of  weeds  and  in  furnishing  a  more  favorable  bed  for 
the  extension  of  the  roots  of  the  plants,  and  its  after  cultivation 
and  management,  are  quite  sufficient  to  recommend  it.  But  I 
answer,  in  general,  that  the  labor  in  the  end  is  less,  and  more  easy, 
in  doing  things  well  and  regularly  than  in  half  doing  them,  and 
that  in  a  slovenly  manner ;  and  that  habits  of  order,  neatness, 
and  regularity,  in  one  branch  of  labor,  lead  to  the  same  habits  in 
other  branches,  and  are  of  eminent  advantage  ;  and,  according 
to  an  excellent  proverb,  a  thing  which  is  well  done  is  twice 
done. 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  427 


LXXXI.  —  GENERAL   RULES   FOR   PLOUGHING. 

The  depth  of  ploughing,  the  width  of  the  furrow-slice,  the 
number  of  ploughings  which  should  be  given  to  land,  and  the 
season  at  which  it  should  be  executed,  depend  on  such  a  variety 
of  circumstances,  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  prescribe  any  uni- 
versal rules. 

The  objects  of  ploughing  are,  to  loosen  the  soil,  and  to  render 
it  permeable  to  the  roots  of  plants,  that  they  may  extend  them- 
selves for  nourishment  and  support ;  to  make  it  accessible  to  the 
air  and  rain,  from  which,  according  to  modern  theories,  it  gathers 
both  oxygen  and  ammonia,  for  the  food  of  plants  ;  and,  lastly,  to 
give  an  opportunity  of  incorporating  manures  with  the  soil,  for 
their  support  and  growth.  It  has  another  object,  of  course, 
where  greensward  is  turned  over,  which  is,  to  bury  the  herbage 
then  on  the  ground,  and  substitute  other  plants. 

The  depth  of  ploughing  varies  in  different  soils,  and  for  dif- 
ferent purposes.  The  average  depth  may  be  considered  as  five 
inches,  but  no  direction  on  this  subject  will  be  found  universally 
applicable.  Three  of  the  most  eminent  practical  farmers  with 
whom  I  am  acquainted  here  plough  not  more  than  three  inches ; 
but  the  surface  mould,  in  these  cases,  is  very  thin,  and  the  under- 
stratum is  a  cold,  clammy  chalk.  One  farmer,  whose  cultivation 
ic  successful,  and  who  cultivates  '•  a  light,  poor,  thin,  moory 
soil,  with  a  subsoil  of  either  blue  or  white  clay,  peat,  or  white 
gravel,"  carefully  avoids  breaking  up  the  cold  subsoil,  and  cuts 
up  the  sward  with  a  breast-plough,  which  is  a  kind  of  paring 
spade  ;  and,  after  burning  the  turf,  and  spreading  the  ashes  with 
a  due  application  of  artificial  manure,  consisting  of  equal  quan- 
tities of  lime,  wood  and  turf  ashes,  at  the  rate  of  sixty  bushels 
lo  the  acre,  and  sowing  turnip-seed,  cultivates  between  the  rows 
with  a  single  horse-plough,  which  cannot,  of  course,  take  a  deep 
furrow.  The  second  year  of  the  course,  when  he  sows  wheat, 
he  ploughs  it  very  lightly  with  a  horse,  after  having  first  breast- 
ploughed  it,  so  as  thoroughly  to  cover  in  the  manure  which  the 
sheep  who  have  been  folded  upon  the  land  have  left  upon  it. 
The  third  year  it  is  breast-ploughed,  sown  in  turnips,  and  culti- 
vated between  the  rows  with  a  horse,  as  before  described.     The 


428  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

fourth  year  it  is  simply  breast-ploughed  for  barley.  The  fifth 
and  sixth  years  it  is  in  grass.  Thus,  in  the  whole  course  of  a 
six  years'  rotation,  this  land  is  only  ploughed  four  times  by  men, 
and  three  times  with  a  single  horse-plough.  Another  farmer  in 
the  same  neighborhood  says  that,  upon  this  description  of  land, 
any  other  than  the  breast-plough  would  not  leave  the  ground  suf- 
ficiently firm  for  wheat.  Mr.  Pusey,  M.  P.,  whose  excellently 
managed  farm  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  repeatedly  going  over, 
in  remarking  on  the  above  accounts,  says,  "  Occupying  similar 
land,  I  may  add  that  I  never  plough  it  deeply,  but  I  repent  of 
so  doing  ;  and  am  falling  more  and  more  each  year,  by  the 
advice  of  neighboring  farmers,  into  the  use  of  the  breast-plough, 
instead  of  the  horse-plough.  This  manual  labor  is  quite  as 
cheap,  for  a  good  workman  can  pare  such  hollow  tender  land  at 
4  s.,  or  even  at  3  s.  per  acre.  It  is  possible  that  the  drought  of 
our  climate  in  Gloucestershire  and  Berkshire  may  be  one  cause 
of  the  success  of  this  practice  in  those  counties,  and  that  the 
same  soil,  if  transferred  to  Westmoreland,  would  require  deeper 
working.  Therefore,  without  recommending  shallow  cultiva- 
tion in  districts  where  deep  ploughing  has  been  hitherto  prac- 
tised, I  would  merely  warn  beginners  against  plunging  recklessly 
into  the  subsoil."  These  examples  are  certainly  well  worth 
considering.  I  do  not  understand  that  these  practices  at  all  mil- 
itate against  the  doctrine  of  the  advantages  to  be  obtained  from 
subsoiling.  In  cases  where  subsoiling  and  thorough  draining 
are  not  applied,  this  shallow  ploughing  may  be  preferred,  as  the 
mingling  of  the  cold  and  inert  subsoil  with  so  thin  a  surface  of 
vegetable  mould  would  doubtless  be  prejudicial,  at  least  for  a 
length  of  time ;  but  the  improvement  of  such  land  by  a  system 
of  thorough  draining  and  subsoiling  is  another  matter,  to  which 
I  shall  refer  in  its  proper  place.  There  are  considerable  tracts 
of  this  moorish  land  —  that  is,  a  thin,  black,  coarse  peat,  not  half 
decomposed,  resting  upon  a  cold  and  hard  pan  of  gravel  or 
clay,  or  what  some  persons  have  mistaken  for  marl,  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  other  parts  of  the  country,  the  improvement  of  which, 
so  far  as  my  experience  has  gone,  has  been  almost  hopeless. 

While  upon  this  subject,  I  may  as  well  give  the  results  of  the 
management  of  the  first  farmer  referred  to,  and  therefore  subjoin 
them.  "  By  this  mode  of  management,  an  economical  system 
is  followed  up  through  the  whole  course,  by  being  nearly  all 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  429 

performed  by  manual  labor,  by  which  means  a  remuneratmg 
crop  will  be  produced,  and  the  land  always  kept  firm,  which  is 
the  only  difficulty  to  be  overcome  on  this  description  of  soil. 
The  farm,  when  first  taken  by  me,  was  wet ;  as  much  out  of  con- 
dition, and  as  light  and  weak,  as  it  well  could  be  —  parts  of  it 
being  merely  held  together  by  the  roots  of  grass  and  weeds, 
natural  to  moory  land,  but  which  must  be  very  prejudicial  to  the 
production  of  those  crops  that  are  to  benefit  the  farmer.  I  com- 
menced by  draining,  and  then  pursued  the  foregoing  system  of 
cultivation,  by  which  my  most  sanguine  expectations  have  been 
realized,  though  I  was  told  that  the  land  would  be  too  light  and 
too  poor  to  plant  wheat  after  turnips.  I  have  never  found  any 
ill  effects  from  paring  and  burning,  experience  having  taught  me 
that  it  produces  a  manure  particularly  beneficial  to  the  growth 
of  turnips ;  thereby  enabling  me  to  firm  the  land  by  sheep."  * 
This  farmer  speaks  of  performing  a  great  portion  of  his  work 
with  manual  labor.  I  think  some  part  of  it  might  rather  be 
called  pedestrian  than  manual ;  for,  if  he  ploughs  his  land  by 
men,  he  treads  it  out  by  women.  He  says,  "  Before  the  horse- 
roll  can  be  used,  I  send  women  to  tread  it,  and,  if  occasion  re- 
quire, tread  it  again  ;  after  which,  I  have  it  twice  hoed.  I  have 
found  more  benefit  from  this  mode  of  pressing  than  any  other, 
being  done  at  a  time  when  wheat,  on  this  description  of  soil,  re- 
quires assistance."  f 

I  have  found  other  farmers,  who,  with  their  wheat  crops  on 
light,  chalky  soils,  ploughed  in  a  very  shallow  manner,  and  then 
were  accustomed  to  tread  their  land  with  sheep,  in  order  to  give 
the  wheat  plant  a  firmer  footing ;  as,  otherwise,  in  a  very  light 
soil,  it  might  be  thrown  out  by  the  wind.     These  cases,  how- 

*  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  vol.  vi.  p.  1. 

f  This  is  a  use  to  which  women  have  not  as  yet  been  put  in  our  "  half-civil- 
ized "  country.  1  dare  say,  however,  many  persons  think  that  it  is  very  well  to 
make  such  clever  animals  serviceable  ;  their  "  keep,"  agriculturally  speaking,  is 
somewhat  expensive ;  and,  as  they  have  their  share  in  the  pleasure  of  consuming, 
they  may  as  well  take  their  part  in  the  labor  of  producing.  Whatever  any  persons 
may  think,  however,  I  will  say  no  such  uncivil  thing ;  but,  since  the  celebrated 
danseuse,  Fanny  Ellsler,  returned  from  the  United  States,  after  a  two  years'  tour, 
with  a  gain  of  twenty  thousand  pounds,  or  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  the  Americans  are  quite  willing  to  pay  for  the  use  of  women's 
feet  —  in  a  way,  we  admit,  more  elegant,  tasteful,  and  classical,  but  certainly  not 
more  respectable,  and  not  half  as  useful,  as  that  of  treading  the  wheat-ground. 


43d  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

ever,  must  all  be  deemed  exceptions ;  and  the  general  rule  in 
England,  where  the  soil  admits  of  it,  and  manure  is  abundant,  is 
that  of  rather  deep  ploughing.  Five  or  six  inches  is  the  average 
depth ;  in  many  cases,  much  more  than  this.  The  loam,  or 
vegetable  mould,  is,  without  question,  the  great  source  or  me- 
dium of  nourishment  to  the  plants.  Be  it  more  or  less  deep,  it 
is  always  safe  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  this,  and,  by  gradually 
loosening  a  portion  of  the  subsoil,  or  lower  stratum,  and  incor 
porating  it  with  the  mould,  and  rendering  it  accessible  to  the 
air  and  light,  it  acquires  the  nature  of  mould,  and  the  whole 
arable  surface  is  enriched.  The  deeper  the  soil,  the  more 
deeply  the  roots  are  permitted  to  descend,  and  the  more  widely 
they  are  enabled  to  spread  themselves, — unless  they  penetrate  a 
substratum  unhealthy  from  wet  or  the  too  great  prevalence  of 
some  unfavorable  mineral  substance, — so  much  the  more  luxu- 
riant and  productive  is  the  vegetation  likely  to  prove.  The 
depth  to  which  the  roots  of  plants  will  go  down  in  search  of 
food  or  moisture,  where  the  soil  is  in  a  condition  to  be  pene- 
trated by  them,  is  much  greater  than  a  superficial  observation 
would  induce  us  to  suppose.  It  is  confidently  asserted  that  the 
roots  of  some  plants  —  such,  for  example,  as  lucern  and  sainfoin  — 
go  to  a  depth  of  fifteen,  twenty,  and  even  thirty  feet.  This 
seems  scarcely  credible.  Red  clover  is  known  to  extend  its 
roots  to  the  depth  of  three  feet,  and  wheat  to  the  depth  of  two 
or  three  feet,  where  the  condition  of  the  soil  is  favorable  to  their 
extension.  Von  Thaer,  the  distinguished  agriculturist,  says, 
"  he  has  pulled  carrots  two  and  a  half  feet  long,  the  tap-root  of 
which  was  probably  another  foot  in  length."  The  tap-root  of  a 
Swedish  turnip  has  been  known  to  extend  thirty-nine  inches  ; 
the  roots  of  Indian  corn  full  six  feet.  These  statements  may 
appear  extraordinary ;  but,  by  the  free  and  loose  texture  of  the 
soil,  it  is  obvious  a  good  husbandman  will  give  every  opportunity 
for  the  roots  and  their  extremely  fine  fibres  to  extend  themselves 
as  far  as  their  instincts  may  prompt  them. 

Next  to  the  depth  of  ploughing,  the  width  of  the  furrow-slice 
is  to  be  considered.  This,  of  course,  depends  mainly  upon  the 
construction  of  the  plough.  A  plough  with  a  wide  sole  or  base, 
in  the  hands  of  a  skilful  ploughman,  may  be  made  to  cut  a  nar- 
row furrow-slice ;  but  a  narrow-soled  plough  cannot  be  made  to 
cut  a  wide  furrow-slice,  though  it  may  sometimes  appear  to  do 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  431 

SO  by  leaving  a  part  of  the  ground  unturned,  which  the  furrow- 
slice  is  made  to  cover.  Where,  as  in  old  ploughed  land,  the 
object  is  solely  to  leave  the  ground  loose  and  light,  it  is  advisa- 
ble to  take  a  very  narrow  furrow.  Where,  otherwise,  the  object 
is  to  move  greensward  or  stubble  ground,  and  to  cover  in  the 
vegetable  matter,  such  a  width  of  furrow  must  be  taken  as  will 
cause  the  slice,  as  it  is  raised  by  the  share,  to  turn  over  easily. 
This  width  may  generally  be  reckoned  at  nearly  twice  the 
depth,  though  less  will  answer  ;  but  a  furrow-slice  of  equal  sides 
would  not  turn,  but  stand  on  end.  The  manner  in  which  the 
furrow-slice  will  be  turned  depends  somewhat  upon  the  form  of 
the  mould-board,  but  more,  in  general,  upon  the  skill  of  the 
ploughman.  Two  modes  are  adopted ;  the  one  to  lay  the  fur- 
row-slice entirely  flat,  shutting  its  edge  exactly  in  by  the  edge  of 
its  neighbor ;  the  other,  to  lay  it  at  an  inclination  of  45  degrees, 
lapping  the  one  upon  the  other.  The  former  mode,  where  land 
is  to  be  sown  with  grass-seed,  and,  as  the  phrase  is  with  us,  laid 
down,  is,  undoubtedly,  to  be  preferred.  Perhaps,  in  any  case 
where  a  grain  crop  is  to  be  cultivated,  it  should  be  preferred, 
as  its  beneficial  effects  have  been  well  tested  in  the  United 
States.  In  the  United  States,  however,  from  a  higher  temper- 
ature, the  vegetable  matter  thus  pressed  down  may  be  expected; 
sooner  to  be  decomposed,  and  thus  sooner  furnish  a  pabulum  for 
the  growing  plants,  than  in  a  climate  where,  in  a  much  lower 
and  more  even  temperature,  the  decomposition  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  take  place  so  rapidly.  In  other  cases,  and  for  vege- 
table crops,  —  I  mean  in  contradistinction  to  grain  crops, — a 
different  mode  of  ploughing,  that  is,  laying  the  furrow-slices  one 
upon  the  other  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees,  or  half  turned  over, 
would  leave  the  ground  more  loose,  as  well  as  expose  a  larger 
surface  of  the  inverted  soil  to  be  enriched  by  the  air.  In  this 
way,  by  harrowing  and  rolling,  the  vegetable  matter  will  be 
completely  buried.  This  mode  of  ploughing  is  evidently  pre- 
ferred throughout  the  country,  as  I  have  seldom  seen  the  sward 
completely  inverted  and  laid  flat,  though  I  know  the  practice 
prevails  in  some  counties.  To  avoid  having  any  of  the  grass 
protrude  itself  between  the  furrow-slices,  they  have  here,  what 
I  have  never  seen  in  the  United  States,  a  skim-colter,  that  is, 
a  miniature  ploughshare,  or  blade,  placed  under  the  beam,  and 


43S  'EUROPEAN  AGRICULTURE. 

SO  adjusted  as  to  cut  an  edge  from  the  furrow-slice  as  it  is  turned 
over ;  this  piece,  so  cut  off,  at  once  dropping  down,  and  being 
buried  under  the  furrow-slice  as  it  goes  over.  The  consequence 
is,  that  there  is  no  grass  on  the  edge  of  the  furrow-slice  to  show 
itself,  and  great  neatness  is  therefore  given  to  the  whole  work. 
There  is  another  mode  of  ploughing,  which  I  have  sometimes 
seen  practised,  by  which  the  furrow-slice  is  not  merely  lifted, 
but  may  be  said  to  be  rolled  over,  or  twisted  in  a  sort  of  bag- 
fashion.  This  seemed  to  me  to  be  principally  owing  to  the 
concave  form  of  the  mould-board,  for  no  workman  could  have 
done  it  with  a  straight  or  convex  form  of  mould-board.  It 
Avould  seem  to  render  the  soil  more  friable  and  loose  ;  but  every 
departure  from  a  straight  line,  or  wedge  form  of  the  mould-board, 
evidently  much  increases  the  draught.  The  skim-colter,  to 
which  I  have  referred  above,  somewhat  increases  the  draught, 
but  in  a  very  small  degree. 

The  great  object  of  the  English  farmers,  in  ploughing,  seems  to 
be  the  thorough  pulverization  of  the  soil ;  and  they  are  therefore 
very  seldom  satisfied  with  one  ploughing,  but  their  land  is  re- 
peatedly ploughed,  scarified,  and  harrowed.  They  cross-plough 
their  land,  and  think  it  desirable  to  reduce  the  sward  land  to  a 
fine  tilth,  tearing  it  to  pieces,  and  bringing  all  the  grass,  and  roots, 
and  rubbish,  to  the  surface,  that  they  may  be  raked  up  and  burned, 
or  carried  to  the  manure  heaps.  The  propriety  of  this  practice 
is,  in  my  mind,  quite  questionable.  It  would  seem  to  me  much 
better  to  turn  the  sward  completely  over,  and  then  cultivate  on 
the  top  of  it,  without  disturbing  the  grass  surface,  leaving  that, 
when  thus  turned  over,  to  a  gradual  decomposition,  that  it  might 
in  this  way  supply  food  to  the  growing  crop,  whereas  the  ab- 
straction of  so  much  vegetable  matter  must  greatly  diminish  the 
resources  of  the  soil.  Where,  however,  the  field  is  infested  with 
twitch  grass,  (triticum  repens,)  —  in  v/hich,  indeed,  many  of  the 
fields  in  England  abound  to  a  most  extraordinary  extent,  —  there 
may  be  no  getting  rid  of  it  but  by  actually  loosening  and  tearing 
it  out ;  but  where  it  is  a  mere  clover  ley,  or  an  old  grass  pasture 
or  meadow,  the  taking  out  and  removing  the  vegetable  matter 
seems  to  be  a  serious  waste.  Even  the  twitch  might  be  managed 
where  the  crop  is  to  be  hoed,  though,  in  grain  crops,  its  presence 
is  extremely  prejudicial. 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  4^^ 

Having  thus  described  the  general  style  of  ploughing,  as  it  pre- 
vails in  England,  I  come  to  speak  of  particular  processes  which 
are  occasionally  practised. 

1.  Lapping  in  Ploughing.  —  A  field  of  greensward,  or  stub- 
ble, is  often,  in  the  autumn,  only  half  ploughed ;  that  is,  a  furrow- 
slice  is  turned  over  directly  upon  an  unploughed  surface  ;  and 
then  another  furrow  is  turned  upon  another  unploughed  surface, 
until  the  whole  field,  being  thus  ploughed,  presents  a  succession 
of  open  furrows  and  of  lapped  lands,  and  only  half  of  it  is  in 
fact  stirred.  In  the  spring,  these  intermediate  places  are  broken 
up  by  the  process  being  directly  reversed.  Some  advantage 
may  come,  in  this  case,  from  the  decomposition  or  rotting  of  the 
vegetable  matter  placed  between  the  two  surfaces  thus  brought 
together,  although  this  can  hardly  be  expected  to  proceed  at  a 
rapid  rate,  if  at  all,  during  the  winter  season,  and  the  furrows 
may  serve  as  drains  to  carry  oflf  the  water  from  the  land ;  but,  ex- 
cepting the  saving  in  time  by  half  doing  instead  of  wholly  doing 
the  work,  1  see  no  advantage  in  this  process  over  the  regular 
mode  of  ploughing  the  whole  field  at  once.  It  is  advised,  how- 
ever, in  performing  this  operation,  that  the  part  of  the  sward 
which  is  laid  over  should  be  wider  than  that  upon  which  it  is 
laid,  that,  by  its  weight,  it  may  be  broken,  and  the  whole  ren- 
dered more  friable.* 

2.  Ribbing,  or  Raftering.  —  There  is  another  mode  of 
ploughing  called  ribbing,  or  raftering,  differing  scarcely  from 
the  method  just  described,  excepting  that  two  furrow-slices  are 
laid  upon  one,  instead  of  one  upon  one.  In  this  case,  an  open 
furrow  and  an  alternate  ridge  present  themselves  over  the  whole 
field  ;  the  furrows  serve  to  keep  the  land  from  stagnant  water, 
and  the  turned-up  land  is  exposed  to  the  ameliorating  processes  of 

*  «  When  land  has  become  very  full  of  twitch,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  half-plough 
it  —  that  is,  turning  over  one  furrow  and  then  another  opposite,  to  meet  it.  If  this 
is  done  in  November,  it  will  check  the  growth  of  the  twitch  during  the  winter. 
The  land,  when  ploughed  in  a  contraiy  direction  early  in  the  spring,  will  lie  in 
heaps,  and  thus  become  quite  dry,  when  the  twitch  may  easily  be  got  out,  and  a 
good  turnip  fallow  be  made.  Scufflers  are  now  made,  which  will  answer  the  pur- 
pose of  stirring  land  that  has  been  ploughed,  and  thus  save  the  labor  and  ex- 
pense of  a  ploughing :  Finlayson's  harrow  is  a  most  useful  implement"  —  HilU 
yard's  Practical  Farmer,  4th  edition,  p.  36. 
37 


434  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

the  air  and  the  frost.  The  field,  when  done  in  the  best  possible 
manner,  as  it  often  is,  presents  a  beautiful  example  of  artistical 
skill.  In  the  springing,  preparatory  to  after  cultivation,  the  whole 
is  broken  up  and  levelled,  by  reversing  the  operation.  1  am  not 
able  to  see  any  decided  advantage  which  this  mode  has  over  the 
regular  ploughing  of  the  whole  field  at  once,  except  in  the  saving 
of  time,  and  this  saving  is  at  the  expense  of  only  two  thirds  of 
the  land  being  ploughed. 

3.  Laying  in  Beds,  or  Stitches.  —  There  is  another  mode  of 
ploughing,  or  rather  of  laying  the  land,  which  prevails  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland  to  a  great  extent,  and  is  nearly  universal  upon 
low  and  wet  ^oils ;  that  is,  the  practice  of  laying  the  land  in 
beds,  or  what  are  here  commonly  called  stetches.  In  this  case, 
a  ridge  is  formed  in  the  centre,  by  laying  two  furrows  back  to 
back,  and  then  ploughing  up  to  them  on  each  side,  until  a  suf- 
ficient land  is  gone  over  to  form  a  bed.  These  beds  vary  much 
in  width,  from  five  to  eighteen  and  thirty-six  feet.  In  some 
cases,  under  a  system  of  ploughing  which  is  called  two  in  and 
two  out,  four  beds  are  formed  into  one  bed,  of  perhaps  sixty  feet 
in  breadth.  In  Essex  county,  on  the  lowlands,  they  are  only 
five  feet  in  width.  An  open  furrow  is  of  course  left  for  the 
water  to  flow  off",  which  runs  down  the  sides  of  the  beds.  The 
object  is  to  lay  the  land  dry ;  but  it  is  obvious  there  is  a  loss  of 
land  in  the  furrows,  and,  while  there  is  a  constant  accumulation 
of  rich  soil  on  the  centre  of  the  bed,  the  mould  must  gradually 
become  thinner  as  you  approach  the  furrow,  and  the  furrow  is 
always  indicated  by  an  absence  of  product,  or  the  growth  of 
coarse  and  worthless  grasses. 

These  ridges,  in  English  cultivation,  are  seldom  altered,  but 
(though  often,  far  from  being  bounded  by  a  straight,  are  bounded 
by  a  winding  or  crooked  furrow)  remain  the  same  as  they  have 
been  doubtless  for  a  century.  Indeed,  they  are  in  many  places 
regarded  with  a  kind  of  superstition,  as  though  the  land  would 
lose  its  fertility  if  they  were  broken  in  upon ;  and  some  writers 
on  English  husbandry  assert  that  water  flows  better  in  these 
winding  gutters  than  it  would  in  straight  furrows,  which  is  cer- 
tainly a  new  philosophy.  Though,  where  they  are  not  properly 
ploughed,  there  is  liable  to  be  a  continual  accumulation  towards 
the  centre,  yet  I  cannot  say  that  I  have  ever  seen  so  great  an 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  435 

increase  of  them  as  is  described  in  Von  Thaer's  Agriculture, 
which  has  been  recently  translated  into  English,  and  published 
in  two  volumes  in  London.  *'  In  places,"  says  this  author, 
'^  where,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  there  have  been  no  ditches 
between  the  lands  of  different  proprietors,  or  where  these  ditches 
have  been  filled  up  for  the  sake  of  gaining  additional  surface,  all 
the  ploughmen  have  avoided  throwing  the  earth  to  the  outside, 
from  fear  that,  if  they  did  so,  their  neighbor  might  carry  off  that 
which  was  thus  placed  within  his  reach.  I71  this  manner,  ridges 
of  considerable  breadths  have  become  elevated  in  the  middle  to  such 
a  degree,  that  two  men,  tcalking  in  the  parallel  furrows  which 
bound  them,  will  not  be  able  to  see  each  other. ^^  *  This  seems 
to  be  a  regular  piece  of  Munchausen ;  and  if  all  book  agricul- 
ture were  of  this  description,  one  could  hardly  be  surprised  at 
some  little  incredulity  and  distaste  on  the  part  of  common  prac- 
tical farmers. 

The  advantages  of  laying  land  in  this  form,  in  cases  where 
land  is  wet  and  heavy,  or  where  the  rain  does  not  pass  off  readily, 
are  obvious.  Where  the  ridges  or  beds,  likewise,  are  made 
equal,  and  with  care,  the  ridges  and  furrows  furnish  a  conve- 
nient measurement  of  land  in  sowing,  reaping,  or  harvesting. 
There  is  a  considerable  loss  of  land  in  the  furrows,  where  the 
beds  are,  as  in  some  cases,  made  very  narrow,  as  for  example  when 
formed  of  ten  furrow-slices,  and  two  furrow-slices  are  taken  for 
the  drain,  the  amount  of  land  taken  for  the  drains  will  be  equal 
to  one  sixth  of  the  whole,  or  one  acre  in  six  —  a  very  considerable 
loss,  it  must  be  admitted ;  but  then,  in  every  system  of  ploughing, 
there  must  be  open  furrows  left  at  the  sides,  if  not  in  the  centre, 
of  the  fields ;  and  where  the  beds  are  large,  as  described  above, 
throwing,  for  example,  four  common  beds  of  fifteen  feet  each,  so 
as  to  form  one  of  sixty  feet,  the  loss  by  open  furrows  would  be 
greatly  reduced.  In  countries  subject  to  much  snow,  and  severe 
frosts,  it  is  objected  that,  the  snow  being  naturally  blown  from 
the  elevated  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  field,  the  ridge,  or  highest 
part  of  the  bed,  is  more  exposed  to  the  alternations  of  freezing 
and  thawing,  and  so  the  grain  plants  on  the  ridge  are  liable  to  be 


*  Principles  of  Agriculture,  by  Von  Thaer,  vol.  ii.  p.  84,  as  translated  from 
the  French  by  those  two  most  intelligent  and  industrious  agiicultural  writers, 
William  Shaw  and  Cuthbert  W.  Johnson,  Esquires. 


436  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

thrown  out  and  destroyed.  I  do  not  know  that  this  objection  is 
entitled  to  much  consideration.  Where  the  furrows  are  made 
from  east  to  west,  instead  of  from  north  to  south,  —  and  the  latter 
ought  always  to  be  the  direction,  —  there  will  be  a  considerable 
difference  in  the  temperature  of  the  two  sides  of  the  ridge,  as  the 
difference  in  the  effect  produced  by  the  sun's  rays,  when  falling 
directly  upon  a  surface  inclined  towards  the  sun,  or  upon  one 
directly  the  reverse  of  this,  must  be  considerable.  It  is  urged, 
likewise,  as  an  objection  to  these  ridges,  that  the  rain,  as  it  falls, 
passes  too  rapidly  into  the  furrows,  and  is  carried  off  without 
gradually  soaking  into  the  land,  as  on  a  flat  surface,  and  giving 
the  whole  its  full  advantage.  These  are  some  of  the  objections 
urged  against  this  system  of  laying  the  land  in  ridges ;  and,  since 
the  introduction  of  the  system  of  subsoiling  and  thorough-drain- 
ing, Mr.  Smith,  the  introducer  of  this  immense  and  extraordinary 
improvement,  and  in  general  those  persons  who  follow  out  his 
notions  in  other  respects,  disapprove  altogether  the  plan  of  laying 
out  the  ground  in  ridges  or  beds,  and  leave  an  even  and  un- 
broken surface.  In  cross-ploughing  fields  laid  in  beds,  there  is 
likewise  an  inconvenience  arising  from  the  furrows ;  and  the 
same  difficulty  likewise  applies  to  the  harrowing  of  such  fields, 
especially  if  it  is  attempted  to  be  done  across  the  furrows.  Har- 
rows formed  with  a  concave  under-side,  to  adapt  them  to  the 
shape  of  the  bed,  are  sometimes  used  lengthwise  with  the  ridge  ; 
but  they  are  ill  adapted  to  cross-harrowing  these  ridges,  or  to  be 
used  upon  land  with  a  flat  and  even  surface. 

The  beauty  which  is  given  to  the  cultivation,  where  such 
ridges  prevail  and  are  well  formed  over  extensive  fields,  is  cer- 
tainly some  recommendation  of  them  ;  but  this  supposes  them  to 
be  made  evenly  and  with  care.  Upon  as  fair  a  view  of  the 
subject  as  I  can  take,  I  should  recommend  them,  not  for  their 
beauty,  but  for  their  utility  and  convenience.  But  in  this  case, 
excepting  where  the  land  is  very  wet  and  low,  I  should  insist 
upon  a  width  certainly  not  less  than  forty  feet ;  and  1  should 
avoid  by  all  means  too  much  accumulation  of  earth  in  the  centre 
of  the  ridge,  which  an  expert  ploughman  is  very  capable  of 
doing. 

4.  Lazy-bed  Cultivation.  —  There  prevails  in  Ireland  a  mode 
of  ridging  land,  different  from  what  I  have  described,  and  called 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  437 

—  with  what  propriety  I  am  unable  to  see  — the  lazy-hed  system. 
It  is  done,  in  general,  only  in  wet  and  low  lands,  though  I  have 
seen  it  upon  other  lands.  In  this  case,  the  whole  land  may  be  either 
ploughed  or  dug  over  by  the  spade,  before  the  formation  of  the 
beds,  or  it  may  be  left  in  grass,  and  the  process  proceed  in  this 
way :  Beds  of  four  feet  wide  are  marked  out,  and  divided  by  a 
furrow-drain  about  one  foot  wide.  The  potato  sets  or  seed  are 
laid  upon  the  ground  or  bed,  at  such  distances  as  are  deemed 
best,  generally  in  lines  across  the  bed,  and  the  earth  in  the 
furrow  is  cut  down  to  the  hard  pan,  even  a  foot  and  a  half  in 
depth,  by  a  spade,  and  taken  out  and  thrown  upon  the  seed 
which  has  been  deposited  on  the  bed,  and  the  whole  is  carefully 
smoothed  off  with  the  shovel.  The  fresh  earth  thus  taken  from 
the  furrow-drain  brings  no  seeds  of  weeds  with  it,  and  the  after 
cultivation  is  easy.  The  potatoes  in  the  autumn  being  dug 
with  a  spade,  the  whole  ground  is  pretty  thoroughly  forked,  or 
dug  over,  and,  when  it  is  used  the  next  year  for  a  crop,  —  it  may 
be  of  potatoes  again,  or  of  oats,  —  the  furrow-drain  is  filled  up, 
and  one  made  in  another  place,  or  in  the  centre  of  that  which 
was  the  bed,  so  that,  in  tiuth,  the  whole  field  becomes  pretty 
thoroughly  cultivated. 

A  very  intelligent  farmer,  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
in  Ireland,  was  kind  enough  to  give  me  an  account  of  his  man- 
agement of  some  of  his  land  on  this  plan,  a  system  which  he 
considers  as  extremely  well  adapted  to  a  cold,  wet  soil,  not  yet 
carefully  drained,  or  to  a  dry  soil  which  may  have  become  ex- 
hausted by  constant  cropping  and  shallow  ploughing. 

^'  I  lined  out  the  ground  to  be  tilled,  in  ridges  four  feet  wide, 
and  furrows  two  feet  wide.  I  then  dug  out  of  the  parts  lined  off 
for  the  furrows,  and  put  on  the  ridges,  all  the  active  soil  which 
could  be  taken  up  by  the  spade.  The  sets  were  then  planted,  and 
covered  by  the  earth  which  had  remained  in  the  furrows,  and 
which  was  for  this  purpose  cleanly  shovelled.  By  this  mode  I 
obtained  a  dry  seed-bed  in  moist  ground  —  a  fresh^  active  soil  in 
exhausted  ground,  and  a  depth  of  surface  in  light  land. 

"  In  one  instance,  on  a  cold,  retentive  soil  not  draineA.,  where 
there  had  been  a  very  poor  crop  of  potatoes  the  previous  year, 
and  the  soil  not  stirred  from  the  time  the  potatoes  had  been  dug 
out  until  the  oats  were  sown,  a  good  crop  of  oats  was  obtained. 
In  the  other  case,  a  second  crop  of  oats  was  taken  off  the  same 
37* 


438 


EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 


field,  the  stubbles  having  been  ploughed  in  October.  This  crop 
was  much  superior  to  the  former.  It  produced  fine  grain,  and 
was  so  luxuriant  that  the  greater  part  of  it  was  lodged  previous 
to  reaping  on  the  9th  of  August.  Should  the  surface  or  active 
soil  be  very  shallow,  the  breadth  of  the  ridge  may  be  narrowed, 
or  the  breadth  of  the  furrow  increased.  The  wide  furrows  allow 
of  loosening  the  subsoil,  either  with  crow-bars,  picks,  or  spades, 
and  I  carefully  reserve  all  stones  which  appear,  for  drains,  where 
draining  is  necessary  ;  and  where  it  is,  I  now  drain  wherever  I 
find  the  stones  at  hand  —  sometimes  before  tilling.  I  make  the 
drains  at  forty  or  sixty  feet  apart  at  first,  and  put  in  my  inter- 
mediate drains  in  each  succeeding  year,  as  I  obtain  stones  in 
loosening  the  subsoil. 

"I  lay  out  my  ridges  for  potatoes,  the  breadth  as  for  oats, 
putting  the  sets  in  rows  across  the  ridges,  five  sets  in  each  row, 
and  the  rows  varying  from  eighteen  to  twenty-two  inches  apart ; 
—  thus  saving  seed,  being  enabled  to  keep  the  plants  free  from 
weeds,  to  dig  out  the  potatoes  at  less  cost  without  injury,  and 
increasing  the  produce,  over  the  old  lazy-bed  system,  in  the  pro- 
portion of  one  sixth." 

The  object  of  this  farmer  is  to  till  his  low  land,  in  a  way  to 
avoid  the  evil  of  excessive  wet,  by  this  simple  method,  before 
he  can  go  to  the  expense  of  completely  furrow-draining.  The 
method  of  managing  land  by  complete  drainage,  which  I  shall 
presently  describe,  would  undoubtedly  be  to  be  preferred,  where 
there  is  a  sufficiency  of  time  and  capital ;  but  in  the  mean  time 
the  other  system  may  be  adopted  as  a  temporary  substitute. 

This  gentleman  gave  me,  at  the  same  time,  an  account  of  an 
experiment  made  as  to  the  distance  at  which  potatoes  should  be 
planted,  which  seems  worth  recording,  and  which  I  will  insert 
here,  though  not  exactly  in  place. 

The  potatoes  were  cultivated  in  the  lazy-bed  fashion  described. 
Six  ridges  were  laid  out  four  feet  wide,  with  two  feet  furrows } 
an  equal  quantity  of  manure  laid  down  for  each.  Two  ridges 
were  planted,  the  cuttings  being  laid  thick,  without  any  regu- 
larity ;  two  ridges  had  the  cuts  placed  in  rows  across  the  bed, 
fourteen  inches  apart,  five  sets  in  a  row  ;  and  two  ridges,  seven- 
teen inches  asunder,  five  sets  in  each  row.  The  manure  was 
spread  over  the  entire  of  the  ridges  tilled  in  the  old  lazy-bed 
way,  and  immediately  over  the  sets  planted.     The  quantity  of 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  439 

seed  required  by  the  first  mode  of  planting  was  six  and  a  half 
stone,  or  91  pounds ;  by  the  second  method,  77  pounds ;  and 
by  the  third  method,  70  pounds.  The  quantity  of  ground,  in 
each  case,  was  seven  square  perches.  The  produce  was  as  sub- 
joined :  — 

In  the  first  method, 1218  pounds. 

In  rows  at  14  inches, 1358       ^' 

In  rows  at  17  inches, 1442       " 

He  adds  that  the  advantage  of  the  latter  method  is  not  only 
a  considerable  increase  of  produce  by  the  acre,  amounting  to 
5152  pounds  over  the  first  method,  but  there  is  a  decided  advan- 
tage in  every  operation  which  takes  place,  from  the  planting  to 
the  digging.  The  ridges  take  less  seed  ;  require  less  labor;  can 
be  freed  from  weeds  with  greater  ease  and  less  danger  to  the 
tender  stalk,  and  dug  with  greater  facility,  and  without  injury 
from  the  spade.  Another  advantage  is,  in  those  places  where 
there  is  but  a  light  surface,  they  may  be  ''  moulded  up,"  or  the 
dirt  brought  to  the  plants,  with  much  benefit. 

I  give  this  as  an  example  of  spade  husbandry.  As  such,  it  will 
have  its  value  with  many  of  my  readers.  It  is  not  adapted  to 
cultivation  upon  any  extended  scale  ;  but  there  are  small  pieces 
of  low,  wet  land  throughout  the  country,  which  the  owners 
cannot  afford  at  once  to  drain  thoroughly,  but  from  which,  in 
this  way,  good  crops  may  be  obtained,  and  the  land  brought 
into  a  condition  of  productive  improvement.  The  experiment, 
in  regard  to  quantity  of  seed,  is  certainly  worth  considering. 
Potatoes  are  never  cultivated  in  England  or  Ireland,  as  with  us, 
in  hills.  I  have  known  as  large  a  production  from  a  field  culti- 
vated in  hills  three  and  a  half  feet  apart  each  way,  as  in  almost 
any  other  mode ;  but  the  expense  of  gathering  them  is  more  than 
upon  one  planted  in  drills,  so  as  to  be  easily  turned  out  by  the 
plough.  A  distinguished  farmer  in  England  has  invented  what 
he  calls  a  hog's-head  plough,  for  the  purpose  of  turning  out 
potatoes  which  are  planted  in  drills,  without  injuring  thetn.  It 
resembles  a  hog's  snout  attached  to  the  front  part  of  a  plough, 
without  a  colter,  by  which  the  potatoes  are  raised  and  turned 
out  of  their  bed.  This  may  be  said  to  be  copying  nature,  for  it 
is  clearly  the  way  that  profound  race  of  investigators,  the  swine, 
would  turn  out  the  crop,  if  they  were  sent  into  an  undug  potato 


440  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

field ;  but  it  has  no  great  advantages,  in  this  matter,  over  a  double 
mould-board  plough. 

5.  Correct  Ploughing.  —  The  proper  and  best  mode  of 
ploughing  is  so  exactly  and  well  described  by  a  recent  and 
eminent  Scotch  agricultural  writer,  that  I  think  I  cannot  do 
better  than  to  give  it  in  full  to  my  readers. 

"  Whatever  mode  of  ploughing  the  land  is  subjected  to,  you 
should  take  special  care  that  it  be  ploughed  for  a  winter  furrow 
in  the  best  manner.  The  furrow-slice  should  be  of  the  requisite 
depth,  whether  of  five  inches  on  the  oldest  lea,  or  seven  inches 
on  the  most  friable  ground  ;  and  it  should  also  be  of  the  requisite 
breadth  of  nine  inches  in  the  former  case,  and  of  ten  in  the 
latter;  but  as  ploughmen  incline  to  hold  a  shallower  furrow 
than  it  should  be,  to  make  the  labor  easier  to  themselves,  there 
is  less  likelihood  of  their  making  a  narrower  furrow  than  it 
should  be,  a  shallow  and  a  broad  furrow  conferring  both  ease 
on  themselves,  and  getting  over  the  ground  quickly.  A  proper 
furrow-slice  in  land  not  in  grass,  or,  as  it  is  termed,  in  red  land, 
should  never  be  less  than  nine  inches  in  breadth  and  six  inches 
in  depth  on  the  strongest  soil,  and  ten  inches  in  breadth  and 
seven  inches  in  depth  on  lighter  soils.  On  grass  land  of  strong 
soil,  or  on  land  of  any  texture  that  has  lain  long  in  grass,  nine 
inches  of  breadth,  and  five  inches  of  depth,  is  as  large  a  furrow- 
slice  as  may  possibly  be  obtained  ;  but  on  lighter  soil,  with  com- 
paratively young  grass,  a  furrow-slice  of  ten  inches  by  six,  and 
even  seven,  is  easily, turned  over.  At  all  seasons,  but  especially 
for  a  winter  furrow,  you  should  endeavor  to  establish  for  your- 
self a  character  for  deep  and  correct  ploughing." 

"  Correct  ploughing  possesses  these  characteristics :  The  fur- 
row-slices should  be  quite  straight,  for  a  ploughman  that  cannot 
hold  a  straight  furrow  is  unworthy  of  his  charge.  The  furrow- 
slices  should  be  quite  parallel  in  length  ;  and  this  property  shows 
that  they  have  been  turned  over  of  a  uniform  thickness,  for  thick 
and  thin  slices,  lying  together,  present  irregularly  horizontal  lines. 
The  furrow-slices  should  be  of  the  same  height,  which  shows 
that  they  have  been  cut  of  the  same  breadth ;  for  slices  of  dif- 
ferent breadths,  laid  together  at  whatever  angle,  present  unequal 
vertical  lines.  The  furrow-slices  should  present  to  the  eye  a 
similar   form  of  crest  and  equal  surface ;    because,   where  one 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  441 

furrow-slice  exhibits  a  narrower  surface  than  it  should  have,  it 
has  been  covered  with  a  broader  slice  than  it  should  be ;  and 
where  it  displays  a  broader  surface  than  it  should,  it  is  so  exposed 
by  a  narrower  slice  than  it  should  be,  lying  upon  it.  The  fur- 
row-slices should  have  their  back  and  face  parallel ;  and  to  dis- 
cover this  property  requires  rather  minute  examination  after  the 
land  has  been  ploughed ;  but  it  is  easily  ascertained  at  the  time 
of  ploughing.  The  ground,  on  being  ploughed,  should  feel 
equally  firm  under  the  foot  at  all  places;  for  slices  in  a  more 
upright  position  than  they  should  be  not  only  feel  hard  and 
unsteady,  but  will  allow  the  seed  corn  to  fall  down  between 
them  and  become  buried.  Furrow-slices  in  too  flat  a  state 
always  yield  considerably  to  the  pressure  of  the  foot ;  and  they 
are  then  too  much  drawn,  and  afford  insufficient  mould  for  the 
seed.  Furrow-slices  should  lie  over  at  the  same  angle  ;  and  it 
is  demonstrable  that  the  largest  extent  of  surface  exposed  to  the 
action  of  the  air  is  when  they  are  laid  over  at  an  angle  of  45°, 
thus  presenting  crests  in  the  best  possible  position  for  the  action 
of  the  harrows.  Crowns  of  ridges,  formed  by  the  meeting  of 
opposite  furrow-slices,  should  neither  be  elevated  nor  depressed, 
in  regard  to  the  rest  of  the  rid^e,  although  ploughmen  often 
commit  the  error  of  raising  the  crowns  too  high  into  a  crest  —  the 
fault  being  easily  committed  by  not  giving  the  feered  "  (that  is, 
the  first,  or  marking-out  slices)  '^  furrow-slices  sufiicient  room  to 
meet,  and  thereby  pressing  them  upon  one  another.  The  furrow- 
brows  should  have  slices  uniform  with  the  rest  of  the  ridge  ;  but 
ploughmen  are  very  apt  to  miscalculate  the  width  of  the  slices 
near  the  sides  of  the  ridges ;  for  if  the  specific  number  of  furrow- 
slices  into  which  the  whole  ridge  should  be  ploughed  are  too 
narrow,  the  last  slice  of  the  furrow-brow  will  be  too  broad,  and 
will  therefore  lie  over  too  flat ;  and  should  this  too  broad  space 
be  divided  into  two  furrows,  each  slice  will  be  too  narrow,  and 
stand  too  upright.  When  the  furrow-brows  are  ill  made,  the 
mould-furrows  cannot  be  proportionately  ploughed  out ;  because, 
if  the  space  between  the  furrow-brows  is  too  wide,  the  mould- 
furrows  must  be  made  too  deep,  to  fill  up  all  the  space,  and  vice 
versa.  If  the  furrow-brow  slices  are  laid  too  flat,  the  mould- 
furrows  will  be  apt  to  throw  too  much  earth  upon  their  edges 
next  the  open  furrow,  and  there  make  them  too  high.  When 
the  fiuTow-brows  of  adjoining  ridges  are  not  ploughed  alike,  one 


442  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

side  of  the  open  furrow  will  require  a  deeper  mould-furrow  thai; 
the  other."  * 

There  is  no  more  accuracy  and  exactness  prescribed  in  these 
directions,  in  the  execution  of  this  first  great  operation  of  hus- 
bandry, than  what  is  actually  attained  and  practised  both  in 
England  and  Scotland.  The  Lothians,  in  the  vicinity  of  Edin- 
burgh, —  and  which  may  indeed  be  considered  as  the  garden  of 
Scotland,  —  the  coimties  of  Northumberland,  Lincoln,  and  Nor- 
folk, in  England,  exhibit  this  perfection  of  cultivation.  It  may  be 
seen  in  many  other  places,  but  in  these  on  a  more  extended  scale 
than  in  others.  But  such  excellence,  however,  is  not  attained 
without  very  great  pains,  and,  with  expert  ploughmen,  a  long 
course  of  practice.  I  shall  be  asked,  perhaps,  what  advantage 
comes  from  this  exact  mode  of  performing  the  work.  It  might 
be  enough  to  answer,  that,  in  every  species  of  labor,  and  in  every 
practical  art,  what  is  done  should  be  well  done,  and  perfection, 
how  far  soever  he  may  fall  short  of  it,  should  be  every  man's  great 
aim.  It  might  be  enough  to  say,  that  the  moral  influences  upon 
a  man's  own  character,  and  life,  of  habits  of  exactness,  order, 
care,  and  neatness,  are  always  great,  and  of  very  serious  value  ; 
but  I  may  confidently  add,  that  the  perfection  with  which  land 
is  tilled  is  of  great  importance  to  the  crops,  and  directly  con- 
ducive to  their  perfection  and  abundance.  The  man,  too,  who 
studies  to  plough  and  cultivate  his  lands  in  the  best  manner,  will 
be  anxious  to  have  his  implements  of  the  best  kind,  and  to  keep 
his  team  in  the  best  order  and  condition.  Indeed,  multiply  as 
we  will  the  excuses  for  slovenliness,  irregularity,  and  careless- 
ness, there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  habits  of  order,  exactness,  and 
carefulness,  in  all  respects,  are  directly  conducive  to,  nay,  are  the 
true  foundations  of,  all  profitable  arrangement.  I  may  add,  like- 
wise, that  where  every  thing  is  kept  in  order,  and  all  work  pro- 
ceeds by  rule  and  system,  though  these  rules  may  sometimes 
appear  extreme  or  severe,  affairs  are  managed  at  less  expense  of 
labor  and  time  than  in  a  more  negligent  and  reckless  mode. 

The  great  object  of  ploughing  is  to  pulverize  the  soil,  to  open 
it  to  the  admission  of  those  great  enrichers  of  the  land,  and  those 
great  instruments  of  vegetation,  heat,  light,  air,  and  moisture  ;  to 
furnish  a  penetrable  bed  in  which  the  roots  of  the  plants  may 

*  Stephen's  Book  of  the  Farm,  vol.  i.  p.  633. 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  443 

establish  themselves,  and  stretch  themselves  out  m  search  of 
food  ;  and,  by  bringing  the  stony  portions  of  the  soil  under  the 
influence  of  external  agents,  to  produce  a  chemical  decomposi- 
tion, and  supply  of  those  mineral  ingredients,  a  portion  of  which 
is  indispensable  to  the  healthy  growth  and  productiveness  of  the 
plants  which  are  cultivated.  It  is  important,  therefore,  to  reduce 
the  soil  to  as  fine  a  tilth  as  possible.  It  is  important  to  do  this, 
likewise,  that  the  manures  which  are  applied  may  be  thoroughly 
intermixed  with  the  soil.  In  gardens,  and  in  small  plats,  this  is 
done  by  the  spade,  w^hich  in  fields  is  attempted  by  the  plough  ; 
the  object  in  both  cases  being  to  render  the  soil  loose,  fine,  and 
friable.  The  more  care  is  exercised  in  the  ploughing,  the  more 
certainly  will  these  ends  be  accomplished. 

6.  Trench-Ploughing. — I  come  next  to  speak  of  what  is 
called  trench-ploughing.  This  term  is  applied  to  a  deeper 
ploughing  than  usual,  or  to  a  double  ploughing,  where  one 
plough  follows  directly  in  the  furrow  left  by  a  preceding  plough. 
In  trenching  land  with  the  spade,  which  I  have  before  described, 
the  object  is  completely  to  invert  the  soil,  laying  the  surface  soil 
imderneath,  and  covering  it  with  that  stratum  of  soil  upon  which 
it  had  previously  rested.  The  object  obviously  is,  to  deepen  the 
cultivatable  soil,  —  if  I  may  coin  a  word  which  will  be  very  well 
understood, — and,  by  bringing  the  lower  stratum  to  the  surface, 
expose  it  to  influences  by  which  it  may  gradually  become 
enriched.  Soil  taken  from  almost  any  depth,  after  lying  upon 
the  surface  for  a  length  of  time,  will  ordinarily  of  itself  acquire 
a  productive  power,  and  may  be  cultivated  with  success.  I  have 
known  this  to  be  the  case  with  earth  taken  from  the  bottom  of 
a  deep  well,  which,  after  a  length  of  time,  became  productive. 
There  is  always,  in  such  cases,  an  accumulation  or  accession  of 
extraneous  matters,  which  come  one  hardly  knows  whence, 
how,  or  when.  The  surface  of  the  coral  reefs,  of  which  the 
islands  in  the  Pacific  are  examples,  after  being  raised  above  the 
water,  are  gradually  decomposed  and  enriched;  seeds  of  plants, 
floating  in  the  air,  or  brought  by  birds,  or  cast  ashore  by  the 
waves,  gradually  establish  themselves.  The  lichens,  or  mosses, 
and  an  humble  class  of  vegetation,  present  themselves,  until  pres- 
ently, from  their  decay,  and  the  deposits  of  animal  life  in  various 
forms,  a  rich  mould  is  formed,  and  this  barren  rock  becomes,  in 


444 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


time,  the  fertile  abode  of  animal  and  vegetable  life.  The  re- 
cuperative power  of  nature  is  every  where  seen  most  active. 
Lands  exhausted  by  cultivation  are  restored  by  the  skill  and 
labor  of  the  faithful  and  enlightened  cultivator.  Even  left  to 
themselves,  to  the  spontaneous  efforts  of  nature,  they  recover 
their  exhausted  fertiUty  ;  and  soils,  which  have  never  yet  seen 
the  sim,  by  being  brought  to  the  light  and  warmth  of  day,  and 
to  the  refreshing  and  renovating  influences  of  sun,  and  air,  and 
rain,  become  productive,  and  stand  ready  to  perform  their  part 
in  supplying  the  wants  of  the  vegetable,  and  through  them  of 
the  animal  creation.  Trench-ploughing,  which  aims  wholly  to 
assist  this  operation  of  nature,  and  take  advantage  of  its  ready 
benevolence,  is  done  by  a  single  plough,  which  goes  to  a  depth 
of  at  least  fourteen  inches,  completely  inverting  this  quantity  of 
soil ;  or  the  land  is  first  ploughed  in  the  ordinary  mode,  and  a 
second  plough  follows  in  the  same  furrow,  at  a  depth  determined 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  ploughman.  In  the  former  case,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  surface  soil  is  completely  inverted  and  buried  ; 
in  the  latter,  the  substratum  is  rather  mixed  with  the  upper  soil. 
In  the  former  case,  it  is  clearly  a  very  bold  operation.  On  the 
Island  of  Jersey,  famous  for  its  cultivation  of  esculent  roots, 
parsnips,  and  the  white  carrot,  and  other  crops,  they  have  what 
is  called  a  trench-plough^  which,  going  to  the  depth  of  fourteen 
inches,  and  throwing  out  a  wide  furrow,  requires  a  heavy  team. 
In  this  case,  the  neighbors  club  together,  uniting  their  teams  so 
as  to  assist  each  other.*     The  subsoil,  unless  there  is  a  super- 

*  I  will  give  here  the  account  of  this  operation,  from  Colonel  Le  Couteur, 
whose  high  reputation  is  well  established  in  the  agricultural  community. 

"  In  most  cases,  in  the  month  of  October  or  November,  a  skim-ploughing  is 
given  to  an  old,  or  two  years'  lea,  which  is  left  exposed  to  the  winter  frosts.  It 
is  well  harrowed  and  cross-harrowed  previous  to  carting  out  the  manure,  which 
is  spread  on  the  ground  at  a  rate  ranging  between  12  and  20  tons  per  acre.  In 
some  cases,  the  above  previous  skim-ploughing  is  deferred  until  January  or  Feb- 
ruary, in  order  to  allow  the  cattle  to  feed  off  any  herbage  that  may  be  left  on  the 
land,  so  that  the  two  ploughings  now  to  be  described  take  place  in  the  same 
month. 

"  A  short  time  (the  shorter  the  better)  previous  to  putting  in  the  crop,  the 
land  receives  its  second,  and  generally  last  ploughing.  The  trench-plough  then 
comes  into  play,  preceded  by  its  pioneer,  the  two-horse-plough.  A  trench  is 
opened  through  the  middle,  or  length  of  the  field,  in  this  manner.  The  two-horse- 
plough  is  made  to  cast  off  a  furrow  up  and  down,  so  as  to  assist  m  forming  the 
trench  ;  the  trench  is  then  neatly  sunk  18  inches  deep,  more  or  less,  according  to 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  445 

abundance  of  manure  to  be  applied  and  mixed  with  it,  cannot 
be  brought  at  once  into  a  state  of  active  productiveness.  Where 
there  is  a  sufficiency  of  manure,  however,  there  is,  no  doubt,  some 
advantage  gained,  to  what  extent  it  is  not  easy  to  say,  from  the 
freshness  of  the  virgin  soil  which  is  brought  up.  Otherwise, 
time  and  cultivation  will  be  required  to  bring  this  fresh  and 
comparatively  inert  soil  into  a  condition  of  productiveness.  In 
this  case,  however,  the  farmer  must  exercise  his  own  judgment, 
and  consider  his  own  means.  He  may  be  sure  that  the  deeper 
and  the  richer  is  the  soil,  or  mould,  which  he  has  to  cultivate,  s: 
much  the  more  abundant  will  be  his  crops.  To  create  a  soil, 
however,  is  not  a  sudden  operation  ;  and,  in  cases  where  the 

the  depth  of  the  soil,  and  squared  off  two  feet  with  spades,  the  earth  being  thrown 
off  to  a  distance  on  each  side. 

"  A  man  with  a  spade  should  then  be  placed  at  each  end  of  the  furrow,  to  dig 
and  square  it  out  half  the  length  of  the  trench-plough,  as  wide  as  the  furrow  in- 
tended to  be  taken,  in  order  to  enable  it  to  plunge  into  its  depth  at  once,  on  turn- 
ing in  to  work ;  this  is  made  at  tlie  left-hand  side  of  either  furrow,  after  the  small 
two-horse-plough  has  made  its  start. 

"  This  two-horse-plough  (one  that  will  take  a  width  of  furrow  one  inch  wider 
than  the  trench-plough)  then  precedes  and  turns  in  the  manure  and  turf,  togetlier 
with  three  inches  of  soil,  into  the  bottom  of  tlie  furrow,  or  prepared  trench.  The 
trench-plough,  drawn  by  four,  six,  or  eight  horses,  according  to  the  depth  desired, 
then  turns  over  from  ten  to  eighteen  inches  of  clean  soil  on  the  turf,  which  is  so 
completely  buried  as  to  destroy  all  vegetation,  even  in  tlie  freshly-broken  sod. 
When  the  sod  is  quite  fresh,  as  little  soil  as  possible  should  be  taken  up  by  the 
small  plough,  so  that  the  couch  or  weeds  may  be  more  completely  covered  by  a 
great  mass  of  clean  soil.  When  the  ploughed  land  becomes  so  wide  as  to  render 
it  inconvenient  for  one  man,  at  each  end,  to  open  the  furrow  for  the  plough  on  one 
side,  and  square  up  the  other  side  neatly,  one  man  is  placed  at  each  corner  to 
perform  this  work,  so  that  two  additional  men  at  each  end  of  the  land,  or  four  in 
all,  are  now  digging,  levelling,  and  squaring  up  the  corners.  Two  acres  or  more 
may  thus  be  turned  up  in  a  day,  as  the  trench-plough  takes  a  wide  furrow  frorr, 
eleven  to  thirteen  inches,  and,  by  its  excellent  construction,  moves  and  tunxs  the 
whole  soil. 

"  This  operation  is  performed  by  joint-stock  labor  by  all  the  farmers  in  J  ersey, 
who  bring  their  teams  to  assist  each  other.  It  is  appropriately  denominated,  not 
a  great  ploughing,  but  a  great  digging  ;  indeed,  no  spade  husbandry  is  so  effi- 
cient, as  most  men,  in  digging,  merely  turn  the  secondspit  upon  the  under,  or 
trench-slice,  whereas  the  whole  soil  is  shaken  and  broken  by  the  trench-plough." 

Certainly  the  soil,  in  this  case,  must  be  very  rich  to  bear  being  inverted  at  this 
depth.  I  give  the  whole  account,  rather  as  matter  of  agricultural  curiosity,  than 
v/ith  any  notion  of  its  being  adapted  to  our  husbandry.  These  very  great  opera- 
tions, in  which  so  many  men  and  so  many  horses  are  employed  at  one  time,  I  have 
always  found  of  doubtful  expediency,  and  should  deem  it  prudent  to  seek  more 
simple  means  of  accomplishing  the  end,  if  more  simple  could  be  found. 
38 


446  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

surface  is  completely  invertedj  the  rich  soil  is  buried,  arxd  the 
undersoil  brought  to  the  top,  he  may  labor  in  a  sure  hope  of  an 
ultimate  compensation ;  yet  he  must  in  such  case  wait  with  a 
manly  patience ;  and  it  may  be  advisable  in  some  instances  to 
have  some  regard  to  the  length  of  his  purse,  and  the  time  of  his 
life  ;  perhaps,  in  England,  it  would  be  as  well  to  add  the  terms 
of  his  lease,  which  may  not  always  be  such  as  to  encourage  sub- 
stantial improvements.  Such  improvements,  being  intended  to 
be  permanent,  can  hardly  be  otherwise  than  expensive. 

I  do  not  know  where  I  can  better  introduce  to  my  readers 
an  experiment  upon  soils,  which  I  witnessed  in  progress  in  that 
admirable  establishment,  the  Agricultural  Museum  and  Nur- 
sery-Grounds of  the  Messrs.  Drummond,  in  Stirling,  Scotland, 
which  I  strongly  recommend  to  the  notice  of  every  intelligent 
traveller  in  that  picturesque  and  most  interesting  locality, 
whether  his  objects  of  pursuit  be  of  an  agricultural  nature,  or 
otherwise.  If  the  experiment  leads  to  no  practical  results,  it  is 
deserving  of  attention,  as  matter  of  philosophical  curiosity.  I 
give  it  from  their  own  written  communication  to  me. 

"  Notice  of  a  Comparative  Trial  of  the  Qualities  of  various  pure 
Earths  for  supporting  Vegetation^  made  in  the  Nursery^ 
Grounds  of  W.  Drummond  and  So7is,  Stirling. 

'^  Garden  pots  eight  inches  in  diameter  were  filled  each  with 
a  pure  earth,  reduced,  by  pounding,  to  the  consistency  of  gravelly 
sand,  where  it  had  previously  existed  in  the  indurated  or  rocky 
state.  Oats  were  then  sown  about  the  middle  of  April,  three 
plants  being  allowed  to  remain  in  each  pot.  The  pots  were 
plunged  to  the  rim  in  an  open  border,  cinders  of  coal  being  put 
under  them,  and  care  otherwise  taken  that  the  roots  of  the  oats 
should  obtain  no  extraneous  nourishment.  The  plants  were 
watered  with  common  spring  water,  a  few  times,  in  very  dry 
weather. 

^'  The  stalks  attained,  in  general,  to  the  height  of  two  and  a 
half  to  three  feet.  The  grain  fully  ripened  about  the  beginning 
of  September. 

*'  PRODUCE. 

Earths.  Ears.         Grains. 

''Granite,  (Aberdeen,) 13     .     220 

Clay  slate,  (primitive,) 11     .     241 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  447 

Earths.  Ears.         Grains. 

.Greenstone,  (secondary  trap,) 10  .  245 

Limestone, 9  .  251 

Chalk, 13  .  355 

Gypsum,  (very  sickly  plants,) 6  .  40 

Sandstone,  (silicious,) 12  .  230 

Pit-sand,  (brown,) 12  .  210 

Blue  clay,  (taken  ten  feet  under  the  surface,)    .  10  .  242 

Mixture  of  all  the  above  kinds, 9  .  190 

Common  light  loamy  soil, 18  .  453 

''  Experiments  of  this  nature  seem  worthy  of  further  prosecu- 
tion, particularly  relative  to  the  respective  influence  of  the  atmos- 
phere and  soil  in  the  nourishment  of  plants.  When  the  oats 
were  sown,  scientific  as  well  as  practical  men  predicted,  that  in 
most  of  these  earths  they  would  not  grow  ;  and  when  they  saw 
them  growing,  predicted  that  they  would  not  ripen  seed.  The 
results  have  proved  otherwise." 

A  single  experiment,  in  such  case,  can  hardly  be  considered 
as  decisive,  excepting  as  to  the  possibility  of  plants  living  and 
maturing  in  an  unmixed  soil.  The  fact  of  their  not  succeeding, 
vvith  one  exception,  so  well  in  a  soil  composed  of  the  several 
varieties  as  in  a  simple  soil,  is  likewise  noticeable.  The  superior 
success  of  the  plants  in  loam  is  also  to  be  observed,  to  show  that 
their  growth  was  not  wholly  dependent  upon  the  atmosphere,  as 
some  would  have  us  believe,  and  that  the  soil  furnishes  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  support  for  the  plants.  The  growth,  in 
each  case,  must  be  considered  as  inferior  ;  and,  without  deducing 
any  general  conclusions,  which  might  be  premature,  or  endeav- 
oring to  fit  the  facts  to  any  received  theory,  I  submit  it  to  the 
further  inquiries  of  those  who  have  the  curiosity  and  talent  to 
pursue  these  interesting  investigations.  If  it  prompts  to  other 
well-conducted  experiments,  my  object  will  be  answered. 

The  bringing  of  any  considerable  quantity  of  inert  soil  to  the 
surface  is  obviously  attended  with  uncertain  results,  so  much 
depends  upon  the  nature  and  condition  of  the  soil  so  brought  up. 
At  the  Duke  of  Portland's,  at  Welbeck,  places  were  pointed  out 
to  me  where  the  surface  mould  had  been  removed,  a  portion  of 
the  subsoil  taken  away,  and  the  mould,  or  top  soil,  returned  to 


448  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

its  place ;  but  in  no  instance  was  its  previous  fertility  restored. 
Deep  cultivation  will  undoubtedly  in  the  end  recover  such  places, 
but  time  and  patience  are  indispensable. 

7.  Subsoil-Ploughing.  — The  next  great  operation,  performed 
with  the  plough,  is  here  called  suhsoiling.  The  object  of  this 
is  similar  to  that  of  trench-ploughing  —  that  of  loosening  the  sub- 
stratum, and  deepening  the  soil  to  be  cultivated.  But  it  differs 
in  this  respect:  trenching,  either  by  the  spade  or  the  plough, 
buries  the  surface  soil,  and  covers  it  with  that  which  is  turned 
up ;  but  subsoil-ploughing  aims  to  loosen  the  substratum  to  the 
depth  required,  without  bringing  it  to  the  surface  or  covering 
the  mould,  and,  by  the  gradual  intermixture  of  the  lower  stratum 
with  the  upper  soil,  to  enrich  it,  and  ultimately  convert  the  whole 
into  an  equally  arable  and  fertile  condition.  Suhsoiling  is  per- 
formed by  a  plough  of  a  peculiar  construction,  following  in  the 
furrow  of  a  common  plough.  If  we  suppose  the  first  plough  to 
have  turned  up  the  land  to  the  depth  of  seven  inches,  the  next 
plough  loosens  it  to  the  depth  of  nine  inches  more,  so  that  the 
whole  land  ploughed  is  in  this  case  equal  to  sixteen  inches. 
The  great  objection  to  trenching  land,  either  by  the  plough  or 
spade,  is,  that  it  brings  the  inert  soil  to  the  surface  in  a  condition 
unsuited  to  the  purposes  of  vegetation,  and  that  thus  much  time 
is  necessarily  lost  before  it  can,  without  great  expense,  be 
restored  to  its  former  fertility.  The  advantage  of  suhsoiling  is, 
that  it  so  gradually  raises  the  substratum  to  mingle  with  the  top 
soil,  that  the  cultivation  of  the  latter  is  not  interrupted,  but  the 
soil  is  benefited  by  the  slight  intermixture.  Another  and  very 
great  advantage  derived  from  suhsoiling,  is  in  the  admission  of 
air  and  heat  to  the  loosened  soil,  by  which  it  is  improved,  and 
better  subserves  the  purposes  of  vegetation,  and  at  the  same  time 
opportunity  is  given  for  the  free  expansion  of  the  roots  of  the 
plant.  On  many  descriptions  of  soil,  the  surface,  or  vegetable 
mould,  rests  upon  a  hard  pan  at  greater  or  less  depth,  and  which 
is  impervious  to  the  roots  of  the  plant,  and  does  not  suffer  even 
the  water  to  pass  off  freely.  However  long  this  may  have 
existed,  as  the  plough  has  usually  gone  only  to  a  certain  depth, 
this  substratum  has  become  the  more  indurated  by  the  treading 
of  the  horses  in  the  ploughed  furrow,  and  the  constant  sliding 
of  the  sole  of  the  plough  over  it.     It  is  the  object  of  the  subsoil- 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  449 

plough  always  to  break  up  this  pan,  which,  after  being  broken 
up  and  exposed  to  the  air,  gradually  crumbles  and  becomes  min- 
gled with  the  upper  soil. 

This  is  subsoiling,  as  it  is  here  termed,  of  which  every  modern 
treatise  of  English  husbandry  is  full.  It  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
be  an  absolutely  new  practice,*  for  passing  a  second  plough  in 
an  open  furrow  may  be  considered  as  a  species  of  subsoiling  ; 
yet  the  credit  of  introducing  the  practice,  and  establishing  it 
upon  just  principles,  as  connected  with  draining  the  land,  must 
be  fully  accorded  to  Mr.  James  Smith,  of  Deanston,  in  Scotland, 
a  man  of  whose  sound  understanding  and  practical  skill  I  might 
speak  in  the  highest  terms,  if  my  humble  voice  would  add  any 
thing  to  the  distinguished  and  substantial  reputation  which  he 
enjoys  throughout  the  kingdom.  I  have  been  over  the  estate  in 
Scotland  which  was  under  his  care ;  and,  though  the  land  may 
be  considered  as  inferior,  yet  its  fine  appearance,  the  regular 
arrangement  of  his  fields,  the  condition  of  his  fences,  and  the 
perfect  cleanness  and  productiveness  of  his  grounds,  present  an 
eminent  and  beautiful  example  of  the  most  improved  husbandry. 
A  great  portion  of  his  labors  are  indeed  under  ground,  and  out  of 
sight ;  but  the  results  of  them  are  obvious. 

Mr.  Smith  was  the  active  manager  of  an  extensive  cloth  or 
cotton  factory,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  was  the  farm  on 
which  he  effected  such  improvements.  The  condition  of  the 
factory  in  all  its  departments,  the  buildings  for  the  persons  who 
are  employed  in  the  factory,  the  whole  arrangement  of  the  facto- 
ry village,  the  condition  and  reputable  conduct  of  the  operatives, 
and  the  measures  taken  for  their  educational  improvement,  are 
very  much  in  advance  of  what  is  to  be  found  in  many  places  both 
in  England  and  the  United  States,  and,  while  they  do  Mr.  Smith 
himself  the  highest  honor,  present  a  beautiful  example  for  imita- 
tion.    Mr.  Smith  is  entitled  to  the  high  merit,  not  of  applying 


*  Worledge,  in  his  Mystery  of  Husbandry,  describes  (A.  D.  1677)  very 
clearly  the  first  rude  attempt  to  construct  a  subsoil-plough.  He  tells  us  of  "  an  in- 
genious young  man  of  Kent,  who  had  two  ploughs  fastened  together  very  firmly, 
by  which  he  ploughed  two  furrows  at  once,  one  under  another,  and  so  stirred  the 
land  twelve  or  fourteen  inches  deep.  It  only  looseneth  or  lightenetli  the  land  to 
that  depth,  but  doth  not  bury  the  upper  crust  of  the  ground  so  deep  as  is  usually 
done  by  digging."  Quoted  in  Ransome's  excellent  work  on  the  Implements  of 
Agriculture,  p.  12. 

38* 


450  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

the  subsoil-plough  to  the  land  merely,  (by  which  the  most  valu- 
able improvements  have  been  effected,)  but  to  the  interestmg 
community  of  several  hundreds,  over  which,  as  the  agent  of  the 
Deanston  works  or  factory,  he  presided.  By  education,  and  by 
paternal  care  and  interest  in  their  welfare,  he  has  done  what  he 
could  for  the  improvement  of  their  condition.  He  may  be  said 
to  have  broken  up  and  elevated  the  lower  strata,  that,  by  bring- 
ing them  from  a  degraded  condition  to  the  light  and  air,  and  by 
degrees  preparing  them  to  intermingle  with  the  higher  strata,  he 
might  alike  benefit  both  parties,  and  substantially  improve  the 
character  of  the  whole. 

Mr.  Smith  invented  a  plough  for  the  express  purpose  of  sub- 
soiling,  of  which  I  design  presently  to  give  a  plate.  It  is  with- 
out a  mould-board,  but  it  has  a  feather  on  the  share.  Several 
other  ploughs  have  been  invented  for  the  same  purpose  —  one 
made  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Pusey,  called  the  Charlbury 
plough,  which  proposed  to  perform  both  the  operation  of  plough- 
ing the  land  and  subsoiling  at  the  same  time.  It  was  therefore 
a  common  plough,  and,  several  inches  below  the  sole  of  the 
plough,  and  behind  it,  there  was  attached  a  turned-up  or  crooked 
tine  or  foot,  calculated  to  descend  into  the  soil  in  the  furrow  to 
the  prescribed  depth.  The  draught  of  this  plough  must  be  of 
course,  by  such  an  arrangement,  considerably  increased,  and  the 
instrument  would  appear  rather  clumsy  in  its  operation.  If  it 
did  its  work  well,  this  is  all  that  could  be  required.  One  of  its 
great  merits  is  stated  to  be  a  considerable  superiority  over  the 
Deanston  plough,  in  lightness  of  draught.  I  have  never  seen 
it  employed.  Another  subsoil-plough,  which  has  been  recom- 
mended, is  a  single  iron  tine  or  foot,  attached  to  a  proper  frame 
with  handles,  and  which,  being  drawn  through  the  furrow  after 
the  other  plough,  loosens  the  soil  in  a  single  line.  It  would 
seem  to  be  an  instrument  of  small  expense,  as  well  as  simple 
construction ;  but  it  executes  the  work  very  imperfectly,  not 
stirring  the  whole  ground,  but  dividing  it  only  in  single  lines. 
Mr.  Smith's  plough,  having  a  small  feather  on  the  share,  not  only 
moves  the  whole  bottom  of  the  furrow,  but  it  raises  a  small 
portion  of  the  subsoil,  and  lays  it  against  the  side  of  the  furrow 
already  turned  over,  thus  mingling  the  subsoil  and  the  upper 
soil  in  some  small  portions  together.  This  may  be  considered 
as  a  decided  advantage.     But,  to  describe  the  practice  of  subsoil- 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  451  - 

ing  land  without  that  of  thorough-draining,  which  forms  a  part 
of  the  same  system,  would  be  unjust  to  Mr.  Smith.  This,  how- 
ever, I  shall  do  most  fully  under  the  subject  of  draining,  which 
will  come  as  matter  of  course. 

To  subsoil  without  draining  is  not  to  be  indiscriminately 
recommended.  In  heavy  and  clay  soils,  it  would  be  of  little  use, 
as  they  would  soon  settle  down  into  their  former  compactness. 
In  some  soils  it  would  only  serve  to  increase  their  wetness,  as 
the  water,  sinking  deeper  into  the  ground,  without  any  provision 
for  its  escape,  would  pass  off  less  quickly  by  evaporation  than 
if  nearer  the  surface.  In  lighter  soils,  where  its  only  effect 
would  be  to  loosen  the  soil,  it  would  undoubtedly  be  beneficial. 

8.  Experiment  in  Subsoiling  Heath  Land.  —  An  example 
of  success  in  the  application  of  the  subsoil  to  heath  land,  which . 
is  within  my  knowledge,  is  so  remarkable,  that  I  will  give  it  to 
my  readers  at  large.  The  gentleman  to  whom  I  shall  refer.  Sir 
Edward  Stracey,  is  himself  the  inventor  of  a  subsoil-plough, 
known  as  the  Rackheath  plough,  after  the  name  of  the  property 
which  he  occupies,  and  which  is  much  lighter  of  draught  than 
the  Deanston  plough. 

"  On  my  coming  to  reside  on  my  estate  at  Rackheath,  about 
six  years  since,  I  found  500  acres  of  heath  land,  composing  two 
farms,  without  tenants,  —  the  gorse,  heather,  and  fern  shooting  up 
in  all  parts.  In  short,  the  land  was  in  such  a  condition  that  the 
crops  did  not  return  the  seed  sown.  The  soil  was  a  loose, 
loamy  soil,  and  had  been  broken  up  by  the  plough  to  a  depth  not 
exceeding  four  inches,  beneath  which  was  a  substratum  (pro- 
vincially  called  an  iron-pan)  so  hard,  that  with  difficulty  could 
a  pickaxe  be  made  to  enter  in  many  places ;  and  my  bailiff,  who 
had  looked  after  the  lands  for  35  years,  told  me  that  the  lands 
were  not  worth  cultivating  ;  that  all  the  neighboring  farmers 
said  the  same  thing  ;  and  that  there  was  but  one  thing  to  be 
done,  viz.,  to  plant  with  fir  and  forest-trees.  To  this  I  paid 
little  attention,  as  I  had  the  year  preceding  allotted  some  parcels 
of  ground,  taken  out  of  the  adjoining  lands,  to  some  cottagers,  to 
each  cottage  about  one  third  of  an  acre.  The  crops  on  all  these 
allotments  looked  fine,  healthy,  and  good,  producing  excellent 
wheat,  carrots,  peas,  cabbages,  potatoes,  and  other  vegetables,  in 
abundance.     The  question  then  was,  How  was  this  to  be  done  ? 


4^2  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

On  the  outside  of  the  cottage  allotments,  all  was  barren.  It 
could  not  be  by  the  manure  that  had  been  laid  on,  for  the  cot- 
tagers had  none  but  that  which  they  had  scraped  from  the  roads. 
The  magic  of  all  this  I  could  ascribe  to  nothing  else  but  the 
spade  ;  they  had  broken  up  the  land  eighteen  inches  deep.  As  to 
digging  up  500  acres  with  the  spade,  to  the  depth  of  eighteen 
inches,  at  an  expense  of  six  pounds  an  acre,  1  would  not  attempt 
it.  I  considered  that  a  plough  might  be  constructed  so  as  to 
loosen  the  soil  to  the  depth  of  eighteen  inches,  keeping  the  best 
soil  to  the  depth  of  four  inches,  and  near  the  surface,  thus  ad- 
mitting air  and  moisture  to  the  roots  of  the  plants,  and  enabling 
them  to  extend  their  spongioles  in  search  of  food,  —  for  air,  mois- 
ture, and  extent  of  pasture,  are  as  necessary  to  the  thriving  and  in- 
crease of  vegetables  as  of  animals.  In  this  attempt  I  succeeded, 
as  the  result  will  show.  I  have  now  broken  up  all  these  500  acres 
eighteen  inches  deep.  The  process  was  by  sending  a  common 
l^lough  drawn  by  two  horses  to  precede,  which  turned  over  the 
ground  to  the  depth  of  four  inches.  My  subsoil-plough  imme- 
diately followed  in  the  furrow  made,  drawn  by  four  horses,  stir- 
ring and  breaking  the  soil  twelve  or  fourteen  inches  deeper,  but 
not  turning  it  over.  Sometimes  the  iron-pan  was  so  hard  that 
the  horses  were  set  fast,  and  it  became  necessary  to  use  the  pick- 
axe, to  release  them,  before  they  could  proceed.  After  the  first 
year,  the  land  produced  double  the  former  crops,  many  of  the 
carrots  being  16  inches  in  length,  and  of  proportionate  thickness. 
This  amendment  could  have  arisen  only  from  the  deep  plough- 
ing. Manure  I  had  scarcely  any,  th^  land  not  producing  then 
stover  sufficient  to  keep  any  stock  worth  mentioning,  and  it  was 
not  possible  to  procure  sufficient  quantity  from  the  town.  The 
plough  tore  up  by  the  roots  all  the  old  gorse,  heather,  and  fern, 
so  that  the  land  lost  all  the  distinctive  character  of  heath  land, 
the  first  year  after  the  deep  ploughing,  which  it  had  retained, 
notwithstanding  the  ploughing  with  the  common  ploughs  for 
thiity-five  years.  Immediately  after  this  subsoil-ploughing,  the 
crop  of  wheat  was  strong  and  long  in  the  straw,  and  the  grain 
cla^c- 1  osomed  and  heavy,  weighing  64  pounds  to  the  bushel ; 
the  qu^-itity,  as  might  be  expected,  not  large,  (about  26  bushels 
to  the  atre,)  but  great  in  comparison  to  what  it  produced  before. 
The  milV^.rs  were  desirous  of  purchasing  it,  and  could  scarcely 
^'•^^Jieve  it  .vas  grown  upon  the  heath  land,  as  in  former  years  it 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  453 

was  difficult  to  get  a  miller  to  look  at  a  sample.  Let  this  be 
borne  in  mind,  that  this  land  then  had  had  no  manure  for  years, 
was  run  out,  and  could  only  have  been  meliorated  by  the  admis- 
sion of  air  and  moisture,  from  deep  ploughing.  This  year  the 
wheat  on  this  land  has  looked  most  promising  ;  the  ears  large 
and  heavy,  the  straw  long,  and  I  expect  the  produce  will  be 
from  34  to  36  bushels  per  acre.  My  Swedish  turnips  on  this 
land  this  year  are  very  good  ;  my  pudding  and  sugar-loaf  turnips 
failing  in  many  parts,  sharing  the  fate  of  those  of  my  neighbors, 
having  been  greatly  injured  by  the  torrents  of  rain  which  fell 
after  they  had  shown  themselves  above  the  ground.  Turnips 
must  have  a  deep  and  well-pulverized  soil,  in  order  to  enable 
them  to  swell,  and  the  tap-roots  to  penetrate  in  search  of  food. 
The  tap-root  of  a  Swedish  turnip  has  been  known  to  penetrate 
39  inches  into  the  ground.  I  will  add  only  two  or  three  gen- 
eral observations. 

"  1st.  The  work  done  by  the  plough  far  exceeds  trenching 
with  the  spade,  as  the  plough  only  breaks  and  loosens  the  land  all 
around,  without  turning  the  subsoil  to  the  top,  which  in  some 
cases  (where  the  subsoil  is  bad)  would  be  injurious  to  the  early 
and  tender  plants ;  and  if  the  subsoil  is  good,  it  would  be  ren- 
dered more  fit  for  vegetation  after  the  air  and  moisture  had  been 
permitted  to  enter.  The  ploughing  is  also  far  preferable  to 
trenching  by  the  spade,  even  for  planting,  (i.  e.  trees.)  as  it  may 
be  done  at  one  fourth  the  expense. 

"2dly.  It  were  v^ery  preferable,  if  possible,  to  work  the  horses 
abreast,  pair  and  pair ;  but,  in  using  this  plough,  the  horses  must 
work  in  a  line,  for,  if  abreast,  the  horse  on  the  land  ploughed 
would  soon  be  fatigued,  by  sinking  up  to  his  hocks ;  and,  to 
render  the  draught  more  easy,  the  second  horse  from  the  plough 
should  not  be  fastened  to  the  chains  of  the  horse  next  the 
plough ;  but  the  chains  of  the  second  horse  should  be  made 
long  enough  to  be  hooked  about  two  ieet  behind  the  back-band 
of  the  chains  of  the  horse  next  the  plough,  so  that  the  second 
horse  will  draw  at  an  angle  of  about  33  degrees  ;  otherwise, 
were  the  chains  of  the  second  horse  hooked  in  front  of  the  back- 
chain,  he  would  pull  the  whole  weight  of  his  draught,  together 
with  that  of  the  horses  preceding  him,  on  the  back  of  the  horse 
next  the  plough ;  and  the  strength  of  the  horse  would  be  lost  in 


454  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

the  draught,  as  his  whole  powers  would  be  exerted  in  his  en- 
deavors to  prevent  being  brought  down  upon  his  knees.  By  so 
arranging  the  chains,  the  power  of  three  horses  would  be  equal 
to  that  of  four." 

Such  were  the  favorable  results  of  this  bold  experiment.  In 
many  other  cases,  however,  the  result  has  not  been  so  successful ; 
and  when  the  state  or  character  of  the  land  is  such  as  to  retain 
the  water,  as  (to  use  the  expression  of  one  highly  intelligent 
farmer,  who  subsoiled  his  land  without  first  draining  it)  "it  some- 
times does  like  a  sponge,"  the  subsoiling  is  as  likely,  and  per- 
haps more  likely,  to  be  injurious  than  beneficial.  The  Deanston 
system,  as  it  is  here  called,  of  subsoil-ploughing  and  furrow- 
draining  will  presently  be  fully  stated  to  my  readers. 

9.  Subturf-Plough.  — The  same  gentleman  last  referred  to, 
Sir  Edward  Stracey,  is  the  inventor  of  what  is  called  a  subturf- 
ploughj  which  is  fitted  for  use  in  lands  where  it  is  desirable  to 
stir  the  soil  beneath  without  breaking  the  turf.  It  does  not 
differ  much  from  the  subsoil-plough  ;  and,  being  once  inserted  into 
the  ground,  breaks  it  up  to  the  depth  of  about  ten  inches,  leaving 
no  other  marks  of  its  operation  than  the  lines  cut  in  the  turf, 
which  very  soon,  by  the  natural  growth  of  the  grass,  become  ob- 
literated. The  lines  are  at  the  distance  of  about  fourteen  inches 
from  one  another.  It  loosens  the  soil  underneath,  admits  the 
air  and  rain,  and  permits  the  roots  to  spread  themselves.  He 
says,  '-after  a  trial  of  it,  that  the  quantity  of  the  aftermath,  and 
the  thickness  of  the  bottom,  have  been  the  subject  of  general 
admiration.  Another  advantage  from  this  subturf-ploughing  is 
that,  before  that  took  place,  water  was  lying  stagnant  on  many 
parts,  (after  heavy  rains,)  especially  in  the  lower  grounds,  to  a 
great  depth  ;  now,  no  water  is  to  be  seen  lying  on  any  part,  the 
whole  being  absorbed  by  the  earth."  This  supposes  that  the 
lower  strata,  below  where  the  plough  has  reached,  are  porous,  and 
easily  transmit  the  water,  or,  otherwise,  it  might  be  liable  to  the 
objections  to  which  I  have  referred  above. 

10.  Perfection  of  English  Ploughing.  —  I  have  spoken  of 
the  various  modes  of  ploughing,  and  of  the  extraordinary  exact- 
ness with  which  it  is  executed.     It  would  be  curious  to  trace 


(455) 


smith's  subsoil-plough. 

(See  p.  450.) 


RACKHEATH    SUBSOIL-PLOUGH. 


"  This  performs  the  operation  of  subsoil  ploughing,  to  tlie  depth  of  from  ten  to 
sixteen  inches  below  the  surface,  and,  when  preceded  by  the  common  plough, 
which  is  the  plan  recommended,  the  depth  reached  below  the  surface  ground  is 
just  so  much  the  more  than  the  first  plough  effects." 


RACKHEATH    SUETURF-PLOUGH. 


"  This  plough  answers  admirably  for  under-ploughing  grass  lands,  and  is  made 
into  a  subturf-plough  by  changing  the  wheel  gear  in  front  to  that  of  a  carriage 
and  two  wheels." 


456  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

the  progress  of  this  art,  from  its  rudest  stages,  to  the  beautiful 
and  facile  manner  which  distinguishes  its  performance  in  the 
best  cultivated  districts  of  England  and  Scotland.  I  do  not  like 
to  say  that  no  further  improvements  can  be  made.  Np  reflecting 
man,  who  has  witnessed  the  extraordinary  changes,  and  inven- 
tions, and  improvements,  of  half  a  century,  and  seen  the  contin- 
ually-shifting scenes,  and  the  new  actors  presenting  themselves 
on  the  stage,  and  bringing  the  treasures  of  their  wisdom  and 
skill  to  the  vast  accumulations  which  genius  and  science  have 
already  heaped  up,  will  assert  this  of  any  human  art ;  but  it  is 
safe  for  me  to  say,  that  I  do  not  know  how,  in  the  best  cases,  the 
execution  of  the  work  can  be  improved.  Under  the  direction  of 
an  experienced  and  well-skilled  ploughman,  and  an  efficient  and 
well-trained  team,  the  implement  itself  moves  like  a  thing  of 
life,  and  performs  its  office  with  the  precision  of  the  highest  in- 
telligence. 

This  is  not  the  effect  of  accident ;  it  is  the  work  of  severe  and 
careful  training.  Boys  are  early  accustomed  to  stand  behind  the 
plough,  and  stimulated  by  the  strongest  motives  which  can  be 
addressed  to  their  cupidity,  their  love  of  approbation,  or  their 
ambition  of  excellence.  Under  the  prevalent  subdivision  of 
labor,  to  which  I  have  before  alluded,  the  advantages  arising 
from  practice,  and  a  fixed  attention  to  one  particular  object,  are 
obviously  secured.  The  man  who  ploughs,  and  does  little  else 
except  ploughing,  is  far  more  likely  to  execute  his  work  thor- 
oughly and  well  than  the  man  whose  attention  is  divided  among 
a  multitude  and  diversity  of  pursuits. 

11.  Ploughing-Matches.  —  The  ploughing-matches,  likewise, 
in  which  most  intelligent  and  severe  judges  are  appointed,  the 
rules  of  competition  are  stringent  and  absolute,  and  the  golden 
rewards  most  liberal,  have  contributed  essentially  to  the  improve- 
ment of  this  art. 

We  have  witnessed  the  same  results  in  the  United  States.  I 
recollect  the  first  ploughing-match  at  Brighton,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  promoting  Agriculture. 
The  gradual  proficiency,  from  these  early  and  comparatively  rude 
trials,  to  the  triumphant  and  beautiful  results  which,  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  afterwards,  with  honest  pride,  I  have  wit- 
nessed at  Worcester,  shows  that  there  is  no  deficiency  of  talent 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  -4^ 

and  skill,  and  no  lack  of  an  honorable  ambition  of  improvement, 
and  that  in  the  various  departments  of  the  arts,  and  in  spheres  of 
improvement  and  progress  higher  than  those  of  the  mechanical 
arts,  all  that  is  wanted  among  ns,  to  the  development  of  power 
and  skill,  is  ^'a  fair  field  and  no  favor." 

The  regulations  of  the  English  plough ing-matches  difier  in 
some  respects  from  those  in  the  United  States.  The  judges  in 
the  English  ploughing-matches  never  come  on  to  the  field  until 
the  work  is  done  and  every  team  withdrawn.  With  us,  they 
are  present  from  the  commencement  to  the  close  of  the  work. 
Our  practice  is,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  preferred.  In  the  former 
case,  no  party  is  known,  and  impartiality,  therefore,  may  be  said 
to  be  perfectly  secured.  So  far  it  is  well.  The  work  is  accu- 
rately surveyed  and  measured  ;  the  depth  of  the  ploughing,  the 
width  of  the  furrow-slice,  the  mode  of  laying  it  over,  the  straight- 
ness  of  the  lines,  the  manner  in  which  the  first  furrow-slices  are 
brought  together  if  it  is  ploughed  back  to  back,  or  the  finishing 
of  the  last  and  middle  furrow  if  the  piece  is  ploughed  from  the 
outside  to  the  centre,  the  freedom  from  balks  and  breaks,  are  all 
carefully  considered  in  the  verdict  rendered.  In  the  United 
States,  every  efi*ort  is  made  to  secure  impartiality,  consistently 
with  other  arrangements,  inasmuch  as  that  no  names,  but  only 
numbers,  are  given  to  the  judges,  and  the  difierent  plats  of  ground 
to  be  ploughed  are  drawn  for  by  lot.  Then  the  judges  on  the 
field  observe  the  whole  progress  of  the  operation ;  measure  the 
different  portions,  as  the  work  goes  on;  and  watch  the  temper 
and  conduct  of  the  ploughman  and  the  training  of  his  team,  the 
manner  in  which  he  treats  his  team,  and  the  condition  in  which 
they  come  ofi*  from  the  work.  These  circumstances  all  deserve 
consideration,  and  should  come  in  as  elements  on  which  a  judg- 
ment is  to  be  made  up.  In  both  cases,  it  is  understood,  as  it 
should  be,  that  no  party  having  any  personal  or  pecuniary 
interest  in  the  result  shall  have  a  place  on  the  bench.  The 
English  are  exact  and  positive  in  prescribing  the  depth  of  the 
ploughing,  and  the  width  of  the  furrow-slice  even  to  a  half-inch, 
arid  insist  upon  a  uniform  width  throughout  the  whole.  I  have 
urged  this  same  thing  often  upon  committees,  in  my  own  coun- 
try, on  which  I  have  had  the  honor  of  being  placed,  and  have 
been  met  with  the  objection,  that  this  was  requiring  too  much, 
and  would  operate  as  a  discouragement.  In  my  opinion,  you 
39 


458  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

cannot  require  too  much,  provided  you  make  your  premiums  in 
proportion  liberal.  Excellence  is  never  attained  by  presenting 
an  inferior  standard.  Let  your  rewards  be  as  liberal  as  possible  ; 
require  the  work  to  be  done  as  well  as  possible ;  and  make  your 
rules  reasonable,  but  as  stringent  as  possible ;  and  hold  con- 
formity absolute  and  inevitable.  In  every  such  competition, 
there  are  minds  in  which  the  superior  value  and  splerjdor  of  a 
triumph  under  such  circumstances  will  rouse  a  powerful  and 
noble  ambition  ;  fire  will  be  brought  out  of  stone,  and,  as  in 
some  beautiful  chemical  experiments,  you  will  see  the  blaze 
burning  under  the  ice.  But  if  you  must  have  a  scrub  race,  have 
it  in  another  part  of  the  field,  and  after  the  noble-spirited  horses 
are  withdrawn,  and  the  donkeys  and  the  Rosinantes  are  brought 
forward.  I  have  never  known  a  case,  in  which  this  loose  system 
of  accommodation  and  indulgence  prevailed,  and  where  the  rules 
were  narrowed  or  expanded  to  fit  the  occasion,  that  the  decision 
of  the  judges  gave  general  satisfaction,  or  ought  to  give  sat- 
isfaction. 

It  is  very  mortifying  to  fail  in  an  object  for  which  one  has  had 
a  hard  struggle.  Many  a  noble  fellow,  after  having  reached  the 
upper  limbs  of  the  tree,  as  he  was  upon  the  point  of  putting  his 
hand  on  the  fruit,  has  found  himself,  with  every  effort  and  strain, 
not  quite  high  enough  to  reach  it,  and  perhaps  has  come  tum- 
bling down,  with  his  clothes  torn,  and  his  face  scratched,  to  the 
ground.  Upon  such  a  mind,  the  only  effect  was  to  rouse  his 
ambition  to  a  stronger  pitch,  to  give  new  vigor  to  his  muscles 
and  new  energy  to  his  determination.     This  was  as  it  should  be. 

I  have  been  told  of  an  Irishman,  —  an  Irishman  he  was,  of 
course,  for  none  but  this  clever  people  ever  do  such  pleasant  things, 
—  that  he  called  to  demand  the  payment  of  the  highest  prize  in 
the  lottery,  which  he  said  he  had  drawn.  Upon  presenting  his 
ticket,  he  was  told  that  it  was  the  number  next  above  his  to 
which  the  prize  had  fallen.  He  said  ''he  knew  that  very  well ; 
but  he  did  not  suppose  that  such  great  folks  would  stand  out  for 
a  single  number."  In  all  cases  of  competition,  the  prize  should 
only  be  paid  to  the  number  which  has  actually  drawn  it.  It 
may,  in  many  cases,  be  expedient  to  give  prizes  for  effort,  and 
for  partial  excellence ;  but  if  the  premium  is  announced  for  ac- 
complishment, to  accomplishment  only  should  it  be  paid. 


GENERAL  RULES  FOR  PLOUGHING.  459 

12.  Horses  used  for  Ploughing.  —  Ploughing  here  is  almost 
universally  done  with  horses.  1  saw  some  oxen  ploughing  at 
Holkham,  with  leather  harnesses  and  breastplates,  instead  of 
yokes  and  bows,  as  employed  in  New  England,  and  I  have 
found  oxen  used  in  some  few  other  cases,  but,  within  my  obser- 
vation, these  cases  are  very  rare.  The  question  of  the  com- 
parative expediency  of  employing  horses  or  oxen  in  farm  work 
will  come  up  for  discussion  presently. 

The  horses  are  extremely  well  trained,  and  usually  groomed 
with  the  greatest  care.  I  have  found  one  remarkable  excep- 
tion to  this  practice,  and  that  of  a  very  large  farmer  of  high 
repute.  He  never  suffered  his  horses  to  be  curried  or  sheared, 
or  confined  in  stables.  When  brought  home  from  their  work, 
they  were  turned  into  open  yards,  with  capacious  sheds,  and  the 
stable  doors,  without  any  division  of  stalls,  were  always  left  open. 
The  mangers  were  plentifully  supplied  with  food,  and  the 
troughs  with  water,  and  they  ate  and  drank,  stood  or  reclined, 
or  walked  about,  as  they  pleased.  The  yards  and  stalls  were 
always  most  abundantly  littered.  I  should  have  scarcely  thought 
proper  to  mention  a  case  of  management,  which  some  might  pro- 
nounce careless  and  slovenly,  and  of  which,  in  riding  through 
some  parts  of  New  England,  one  would  hardly  be  at  a  loss  to 
find  examples,  were  it  not  that  this  was  the  practice  of  a  very 
large  farmer,  extremely  skilful  and  intelligent,  and  the  favorite 
tenant  and  model  of  one  of  the  largest  proprietors,  and  one  of 
the  greatest  agricultural  improvers  in  the  country,  (the  late  Lord 
Leicester,)  and  that  he  pursued  this  practice  from  choice,  and 
because  he  deemed  it  most  conducive  to  the  health  and  comfort 
of  the  animals.  He  maintained  that  the  animals,  not  being  kept 
in  warm  stables,  but  familiar  with  the  changes  of  the  weather, 
bore  them  with  less  inconvenience  and  suffering  than  they  other- 
wise would  have  done  ;  that  a  great  deal  of  time  and  trouble 
was  saved  in  the  care  of  them ;  that,  being  at  liberty  to  lie  down 
when  they  pleased,  their  rest  was  more  refreshing  than  if  con- 
fined and  tied  in  a  stall ;  that,  the  Tiair  being  given  them  for  a 
covering,  it  was  wrong  to  strip  them  of  their  flannels  at  a  season 
when  they  most  needed  them ;  and  that  the  dirt  itself,  matted 
among  their  hair,  assisted  in  retaining  the  warmth.  These  were 
all  philosophical  reasons,  which  did  not  quite  convince  me  of  the 
wisdom  and  expediency  of  this  mode  of  managing.     The  last 


460  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

argument,  in  respect  to  the  dirt  keeping  the  animals  warmer, 
seems  well  understood,  and  practically  exemplified,  by  many  of 
the  lower  classes  in  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin,  and,  if  well 
founded,  might  do  something  towards  lessening  the  compassion 
which  one  must  otherwise  feel  for  their  suffering  from  the  want 
of  fuel.  The  horses  in  possession  of  the  farmer  spoken  of 
appeared  in  good  condition,  and  were  strong  for  labor ;  and  the 
practice  pursued  was  of  several  years'  standing. 

The  usual  practice  is  for  the  ploughman  to  be  at  the  stables  at 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning  ;  to  clean,  water,  and  feed  his  horses, 
and  to  be  in  the  field  at  work  at  six  o'clock.  With  a  short  time 
to  rest  occasionally,  he  continues  his  ploughing  until  two  o'clock, 
when  he  returns  to  the  homestead,  the  horses  are  thoroughly 
cleaned,  and  rubbed,  and  watered,  and  fed,  and  at  last  littered 
for  the  night  —  eight  hours  being  considered  as  a  day's  work  ;  and, 
in  ordinary  cases,  an  English  statute  acre,  of  the  same  size  as  an 
American  acre,  is  his  allotted  stint.  There  are  cases  of  heavy 
land,  in  which  only  three  quarters  of  an  acre  are  considered  a 
day's  work  ;  and  others,  of  lighter  land,  in  which  upwards  of  an 
acre  and  a  quarter  are  accomplished.  In  Scotland,  a  pair  of 
horses  are  ordinarily  considered  sufficient  for  any  kind  of  land, 
and  they  are  worked  side  by  side.  If  three  are  employed,  two 
walk  upon  the  land,  and  one  in  the  furrow.  The  practice  of 
employing  only  two  horses  to  a  plough  is  beginning  to  prevail 
in  England,-  but,  in  many  instances,  three  and  four  horses  are 
used,  drawing  at  length.  This  practice  is  not  so  entirely  with- 
out reason  as  some  travellers  represent  it,  for  in  some  land  it  is 
desirable  and  necessary  to  avoid  trampling  it,  and  consolidating 
it  the  more,  by  the  horses'  tread  ;  but  when,  as  it  has  occasion- 
ally happened,  I  have  seen  five  horses  harnessed  lengthwise  to  a 
single  plough,  with  two  men  at  the  plough,  and  three  men  or 
boys  with  the  horses,  my  own  admiration  has  sometimes  bor- 
dered upon  the  ridiculous.  The  affair  of  turning  at  the  end,  in 
such  a  case,  is  somewhat  like  wheeling  a  battalion  of  undisci- 
plined militia  at  a  country  muster,  and,  unless  the  field  be  very 
long,  a  large  portion  of  the  day  must  be  occupied  by  these  evo- 
lutions. The  Scotch  ploughman,  with  only  two  horses,  and  the 
reins  over  his  neck,  turns  a  corner  like  an  officer's  charger,  and 
requires  no  aid. 

In  some  cases,  ploughs  with  double  mould-boards  are  used, 


A    DIGRESSION. 


461 


which  regularly  turn  two  furrows  at  the  same  time.  In  light 
land,  and  where  the  ploughing  is  shallow,  they  save  time  and 
expense.  In  stronger  lands,  where  three  horses  are  sufficient,  it 
is  obvious  that  the  expense  of  one  horse  is  saved.  In  heavy 
lands,  where  four  horses  would  be  required  on  account  of  the 
double  mould-board,  it  is  obvious  nothing  would  be  gained.  In 
parts  of  Lincolnshire,  on  the  chalk  formation,  where  the  plough- 
ing for  wheat  was  not  more  than  three  inches,  these  ploughs 
were  much  approved.     I  give  below  a  cut  of  a  double  furrow- 


plough.     The  invention  of  this  plough  is  by  Lord  Somerville  ; 
and  it  is  certainly  creditable  for  the  ingenuity  of  its  construction. 


LXXXII.  —  A   DIGRESSION. 


Progress  of  Improvement.  —  I  have  gone  thus  at  large  into 
the  operation  of  ploughing,  because  it  is  the  great  operation  of 
husbandry  ;  and  having  finished  the  field,  let  us  stand  aside,  and, 
looking  at  the  work,  indulge  a  moment  the  reflections  which 
suggest  themselves. 

A  ruffle  from  under  a  crimping  iron  does  not  present  a  more 
beautiful  object  than  a  well-ploughed  field  from  under  the  hands 
of  an  English  or  a  Scotch  artist.  The  lines  are  all  straight ;  the 
furrows  well  turned ;  the  headlands  cross-ploughed ;  the  corners 
finished.  A  well-disciplined  mind  enjoys  the  highest  pleasure 
from  seeing  an  operation  of  any  kind,  even  the  most  humble, 
well  performed,  and  perfected  according  to  its  proper  measure. 

There  is  something,  likewise,  extremely  gratifying  in  witness- 
39* 


462  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

ing  the  progress  and  advancement  of  human  skill  and  art.  From 
digging  the  ground  with  a  stick,  that  a  hole  might  be  made  for 
the  deposit  of  the  seed,  to  the  perfect  inversion  of  it  by  the 
plough,  what  an  immense  stride  !  That  is  now  done  in  a  day, 
which,  in  the  rude  ages  referred  to,  could  scarcely  have  been 
accomplished  in  a  year ;  and  that  is  now  performed  with  ease, 
and  without  any  unkind  tax  upon  the  health  of  man  or  beast, 
which  could  not  otherwise  have  been  effected  without  the  most 
severe  exactions  of  human  toil,  and  often  at  the  expense  of  the 
premature  shortening  of  human  life. 


LXXXIII.  —  IMPROVED   MACHINERY. 

There  are  persons  continually  complaining  of  the  introduction 
and  use  of  machinery  in  the  place  of  human  labor,  and  as  there- 
fore prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  poor.  At  an  agricultural 
dinner,  I  listened  with  a  good  deal  of  interest  to  a  distinguished 
nobleman,  who  was  defending  machinery  against  this  charge, 
by  endeavoring  to  show  that,  so  far  from  machinery  lessening 
the  demand  for  labor,  it  was  the  ordinary  result  of  it  to  cause 
the  employment  of  more  persons  than  were  occupied  before  its 
introduction.  This  may  be  the  fact ;  but  if  this  were  the  only 
result,  or  if  this  result  stood  alone,  it  would  not  be  a  very  strong 
recommendation,  and  should  be  classed  with  the  kind  of  argu- 
ment used  not  long  since  in  Parliament,  in  commendation  of  the 
corn  laws,  that  they  encouraged  labor  by  rendering  agricultu- 
ral produce  dear,  when  it  is  obvious  that,  just  in  proportion  as 
the  price  of  agricultural  produce  increases,  the  value  of  the  wages 
of  the  laborer  decrease,  his  supplies  are  diminished,  and,  though 
labor  is  more  in  demand,  it  is  worse  paid. 

1.  Machinery  lightens  Labor.  —  The  value  of  improved 
machinery  rests  upon  different  grounds.  Its  first  effect  is  to 
lessen  the  severity  of  human  toil.  Through  the  ingenious  ap- 
plication of  the  mechanical  powers,  that  is  effected  by  the  hand 
of  a  child,  which  the  united  force  of  hundreds  of  men,  strained 


IMPROVED    MACHINERY.  463 

to  an  intensity  most  painful  and  injurious,  could  scarcely  accom- 
plish. The  wheel,  and  the  lever,  and  the  pulley,  and  the  in- 
definite multiplication  and  curious  comhination  of  powers  which 
art  invents,  execute  works  of  a  magnitude,  before  which  the 
armies  of  an  ancient  or  a  modern  Alexander  might  sit  down  in 
despair.  Instead,  according  to  the  fashion  of  ancient  monarchs, 
of  throwing  golden  fetters  into  the  torrent,  to  stem  its  force, 
modern  science  puts  an  iron  bit  into  its  mouth,  and  rides  tri- 
umphantly upon  its  crested  waves.  The  victories  which  human 
art  has  achieved  over  the  elements  of  nature,  once  deemed  un- 
tamable, adorn  with  matchless  splendor  the  annals  of  our  times; 
and  yet,  like  the  crepuscular  light,  like  the  first  darting  up  of  the 
morning  rays  upon  the  eastern  horizon,  they  only  presage  the 
full  light  of  day.  Fire,  water,  air,  in  various  forms,  stand  ready 
to  do  man's  bidding  ;  and,  as  the  miracle  of  modern  art,  the 
winged  lightning  presents  itself  to  his  service,  and  becomes  the 
instantaneous  bearer  of  intelligence  between  places  the  most  dis- 
tant—  between  places  whose  distance,  be  it  what  it  may,  will 
make  no  perceptible  difference  in  time  or  certainty,  where  once 
the  means  of  an  uninterrupted  continuity  of  communication  shall 
have  been  discovered.  These  are  great  achievements,  and  their 
effects  are  felt  in  every  department  of  labor.  In  agricultural 
operations,  if  the  mechanic  arts  have  not  yet  done  as  much  as 
in  many  other  branches  of  industry,  yet  they  have  rendered  no 
small  contributions ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten,  that  the  agri- 
cultural interest,  if  not  specifically  served,  shares  as  largely  as 
any  other  class  in  the  general  benefits  which  the  improvements 
of  the  mechanic  arts  confer  upon  society.  The  plough  is  an 
immense  advance  upon  the  spade  ;  the  cultivator,  upon  the  hoe  ; 
the  horse-rake  and  hay-tedder,  upon  the  hand-rake  and  the 
common  fork.  The  steam-engine  performs  the  Avork  of  many 
men  and  many  horses  in  the  threshing  of  grain,  and  the  pump- 
ing of  water,  and  various  other  operations  to  which  it  is  applied. 
In  the  fens  of  Lincolnshire,  two  immense  steam-engines,  one  of 
eighty,  and  one  of  sixty  horse  power,  under  the  care  of  one  or 
two  individuals,  completely  drain  an  extent  of  surface  of  many 
thousands  of  acres.  They  bring  these  hitherto  waste  tracts  of 
country  under  the  dominion  of  productive  cultivation,  and,  by 
its  magical  influence,  bid  these  unsightly  and  barren  sands  adorn 
themselves  with  the  glittering  tresses  of  a  golden  harvest.     These 


464  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

are  among  the  miracles  of  machinery,  under  the  guidance  of  an 
intelligence  which  is  an  emanation  from  the  Divine  Spirit. 
One  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres,  in  the  neighboring  fens, 
are  now  in  the  process  of  being  redeemed  from  the  sea,  and  com- 
pletely drained,  by  a  similar  machinery.  The  courtiers  of  the 
king  may  now  safely  challenge  him  to  place  his  chair  upon  the 
beach,  and  bid  the  waves  retire.  What  could  human  labor 
effect  in  such  cases  without  the  aid  of  machinery  ?  For  all  the 
men,  and  women,  and  children,  in  England,  to  have  attempted  to 
accomplish  such  a  work,  without  such  help,  would  have  been  as 
wise  as  to  undertake  to  dip  out  Lake  Superior  with  a  table- 
spoon.* 

2.  Machinery  increases  Production.  —  The  second  effect  of 
machinery  is,  to  multiply  production  to  an  unlimited  extent.  A 
cotton  manufactory  at  Manchester  turns  out  in  a  day  as  much 
cotton  cloth  as,  under  the  old  system  of  household  spinning  and 
weaving,  could  have  been  made  in  all  Lancashire  in  a  fortnight, 
perhaps  a  month.  With  improved  machinery,  twenty  acres  — 
may  I  not  say  fifty?  —  can  be  ploughed,  harrowed,  manured, 
drilled,  cultivated,  and  the  produce  harvested,  and  threshed,  and 


*  "  If  reference  is  made  to  the  evidence  given  before  the  House  of  Commons, 
to  which  the  numerous  petitions  complaining  of  agricultural  distress  were  re- 
ferred in  1821,  it  will  be  seen  that,  at  that  time,  almost  the  only  grain  produced 
in  the  fens  of  Cambridgeshire  consisted  of  oats.  Since  then,  by  draining  and 
manuring,  the  capability  of  the  soil  has  been  so  changed,  that  these  fens  now 
produce  some  of  the  finest  wheat  that  is  grown  in  England  ;  and  this  more  costly 
grain  now  constitutes  the  main  dependence  of  tlie  farmers  in  a  district  where, 
fourteen  years  ago,  its  production  was  scarcely  attempted." 

"  It  has  been  found  that  an  engine  of  the  power  of  ten  horses  is  sufficient  for 
draining  1000  acres  of  land,  and  that,  on  the  average  of  years,  this  work  may  be 
performed  by  setting  the  engine  in  motion  for  periods  amounting  in  the  aggre- 
gate to  20  days  of  12  hours  each,  or  240  hours  in  all.  Several  engines  have 
been  erected  for  this  purpose  within  the  last  three  or  four  years,  some  of  them 
having  the  power  of  60  or  70  horses  :  each  of  these  large  engines  is  employed  in 
draining  from  6000  to  7000  acres  of  land.  The  cost  of  the  first  establishment  of 
these  engines  is  stated  to  be  £1  per  acre,  and  the  expense  of  keeping  them  at 
work  2  s.  6  d.  per  acre.  This  plan  is  found  to  bring  with  it  the  further  advantage 
that,  in  the  event  of  long-continued  drought,  the  farmer  can,  without  appreliension, 
admit  the  water  required  for  his  cattle,  and  for  the  purpose  of  irrigation,  secure 
in  the  means  he  possesses  of  regulating  the  degree  of  moisture,  if  the  drought, 
as  is  frequently  the  case,  should  be  followed  by  an  excess  of  rain."  —  Porter's 
Progress  of  the  JVdtion. 


IMPROVED    MACHINERY.  465 

prepared  for  food,  where,  under  the  rude  system  of  the  aborigines 
of  the  country,  the  cultivation  of  only  one  could  be  carried  on, 
and  its  produce  secured.  Indeed,  all  such  comparisons  seem 
idle,  because,  without  machinery  of  some  kind,  no  cultivation 
whatever  could  take  place.  The  human  hand  is  itself  a  machine, 
and  one  of  the  most  perfect  description.  If  there  is  any  advan- 
tage in  having  two  hands  rather  than  one,  then  there  must  be  a 
correspondent  advantage  in  any  contrivance  by  which  one  hand 
can  be  made  to  do  the  work  of  two,  or  two  hands  of  four,  and 
still  more  when  one  can  be  empowered  to  do  the  work  of 
thousands. 

From  the  manner  in  which  some  men  speak  of  machinery, 
one  would  suppose  that  the  world  would  be  better  and  happier 
if  men  and  women  were  to  go  back  to  simple  fig-leaves  for 
aprons,  and  undressed  sheep-skins  for  coverings,  and  find  shelter 
and  repose  at  night  under  some  overhanging  rock,  or  on  a  bed 
of  hemlock  boughs,  in  a  wigwam  of  birch-bark.  I  have  no 
sympathy  with  such  *'  simple  and  primitive  "  notions.  I  will 
say  nothing  of  the  charms  and  blessedness  of  a  state  of  perfect 
innocence,  because  I  would  not  offend  any  honest  man's  preju- 
dices, nor  thrust  my  face  and  hands  against  the  porcupine  armor 
of  controversial  theology ;  but  1  confess  I  have  always  had  some 
misgivings  as  to  the  happiness  of  what  poets  describe  as  the 
golden  age,  and  theologians  depict  as  the  paradisiacal  state,i 
when  the  human  race  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  enjoy  themselves, 
and  to  enjoy  themselves  in  doing  nothing  —  an  experiment  which, 
whenever  I  have  tried  it,  I  have  always  found  extremely  monot- 
onous and  wearisome.  Strength  is  to  be  found  only  in  the 
exertion  of  the  muscles ;  food  yields  its  nourishment  only  when 
the  machinery  of  digestion  is  in  full  operation ;  and  health, 
and  power,  and  happiness,  are  compatible  only  with  the  highest 
activity  of  the  physical  and  the  intellectual  faculties. 

When  the  ignorant  and  vulgar,  whose  views  do  not  extend 
beyond  the  first  immediate  effects,  burn  factories,  and  break 
threshing-mills  to  pieces,  an  enlightened  and  generous  mind 
would  feel  compassion  for  their  ignorance  and  infirmity  ;  but 
when  minds  of  a  different  order,  professing  to  be  enlightened, 
become,  as  we  sometimes  see  them,  the  cavillers  against  im- 
proved machinery,  and  prate  about  the  "simplicity  of  the  good 
old  times,"  when  men  used  clam-shells  for  spoonsy  and  thorns. 


466  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

for  pins,  and  goat-skins  for  glass  bottles,  and  wooden  bowls 
instead  of  china,  —  and,  in  some  instances,  do  far  worse  by  foster- 
ing the  vindictive  prejudices  of  the  vulgar  against  those  inven- 
tions of  art  and  genius  which  relieve  the  severity,  facilitate  the 
exertion,  and  immensely  increase  the  productive  power  of  labor, — 
I  hold  them  as  without  excuse,  and  could  wish  them  no  worse 
lot  than  to  be  exiled  for  a  season  to  some  parts  of  Ireland,  where 
these  prejudices  ag'iinst  improved  machinery  are  as  fierce  as 
theirs  can  be,  and  where  they  may  find  millions  living  in  a  state 
of  destitution  as  complete  and  absolute  as  seems  compatible  with 
the  continuance  of  life. 

3.  General  Effects  on  Labor.  —  I  confess,  however,  there 
is  one  view  of  this  subject  which  I  must  not  pass  over,  and 
which  I  cannot  take  with  equal  complacency.  The  eff'ects  of 
improved  machinery  should  be  to  alleviate  and  to  shorten 
human  toil,  and,  in  multiplying  production,  to  extend  more 
widely  the  supply  of  food,  and  the  common  comforts  of  life. 
The  laboring  man  should,  on  every  principle,  be  the  first  to 
share  in  these  benefits ;  but  far  too  often  he  is  the  last.  Food 
is  greatly  multiplied  both  in  quantity  and  variety ;  but,  in  a 
country  where  labor  is  superabundant,  the  wages  of  labor 
become  proportionately  reduced,  and  the  power  to  purchase 
restricted.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in  respect  to  clothing 
and  furniture,  the  condition  of  the  laboring  population  is  greatly 
improved  above  what  it  formerly  was.  An  American  clock,  for 
example,  made  in  Connecticut,  —  that  home  of  industry  and  the 
useful  arts, — an  article  both  useful  and  ornamental,  and  in  which 
the  -^  gude  "  housewife  is  sure  to  take  an  honest  pride,  may  be 
purchased  in  London  for  a  pound.  A  century  ago,  this  would 
have  been  an  article  of  furniture  which  a  nobleman  might  covet. 

But  it  is  too  true  that  improved  machinery  scarcely  dimin- 
ishes—  in  many  cases  it  increases  —  the  demand  for  human  and 
brute  labor.  Two  men  only  are  required  to  thresh  grain  with  a 
flail ;  from  five  to  eight,  besides  the  horses,  or  the  attendants 
upon  the  steam-engine,  are  employed  at  the  threshing-machine. 
Much  more  is  threshed,  and,  in  consequence  of  these  increased 
facilities,  much  more  is  growit,  and  therefore  requires  to  be 
threshed.  "  But  for  the  invention  of  the  steam-engine,  a  large 
proportion  of  the  coal  mines  now  profitably  worked  could  not 


IMPROVED    MACHINERY.  467 

have  been  opened,  or  must  have  been  abandoned.  It  is  well 
known  that,  by  the  consumption  of  one  bushel  of  coals  in  the 
furnace  of  a  steam-boiler,  a  power  is  produced  which,  in  a  few 
minutes,  will  raise  20,000  gallons  of  water  from  a  depth  of  350 
feet  —  an  effect  which  could  not  be  produced  in  a  shorter  time 
than  a  whole  day  through  the  continuous  labor  of  twenty  men, 
working  with  the  common  pump.  By  thus  expending  a  few 
pence,  an  amount  of  human  labor  is  set  free,  to  employ  which 
would  have  cost  fifty  shillings;  and  yet  this  circumstance,  so 
far  from  having  diminished  the  demand  for  human  labor,  even  in 
the  actual  trade  where  the  economy  is  produced,  has  certainly 
caused  a  much  greater  number  of  persons  to  be  employed  in 
coal-mining  than  could  otherwise  have  been  set  to  work."  * 

It  certainly  is  matter  of  congratulation,  rather  than  of  com- 
plaint, that  more  food  is  produced  to  be  eaten,  more  clothing  to 
wear,  and  more  fuel  with  which  to  warm  our  habitations  and  to 
apply  to  other  purposes  of  utility,  necessity,  or  enjoyment;  but, 
in  looking  at  the  severity  and  long  continuance  of  toil  to  which 
a  large  part  of  the  laboring  portion  of  the  community  are  sub- 
jected, and  how,  in  many  of  the  arts  and  operations  of  manufac- 
tures and  trade,  human  health  and  comfort  are  wholly  disre- 
garded, and  human  life  is  used  up  with  as  much  indifference  as 
fuel  is  thrown  into  the  furnace  of  the  steam-engine,  one  cannot 
help  deeply  lamenting  that  the  burden  cannot  be  lightened  on 
the  back  of  the  hard-driven  animal,  and  that  they  whose  toil 
produces  every  thing  are  put  off  with  the  smallest  and  meanest 
portion  of  the  fruits  of  their  own  industry.  How  far  govern- 
ment should  interfere,  in  such  a  case,  between  the  employer  and 
•the  employed,  is  a  question  not  without  great  practical  diffi- 
culties. Human  society  is  such  a  complicated  web,  that  the 
extreme  tension  of  any  single  thread  disorders  the  whole  piece. 
Every  provision  should  be  made  for  the  protection  of  the  young 
and  helpless;  opportunity  should  be  afforded  for  the  full  devel- 
opment of  their  physical  powers,  and  for  the  education  of  their 
minds.  No  pains  should  be  spared  to  protect  good  morals  and 
decency,  and  to  secure  human  life  against  any  extraordinary  perils. 
The  hours  of  labor  should  not  be  too  long  extended,  nor  the 
hours  of  seasonable  rest  encroached   upon ;  and,  in  any   case 

*  Progress  of  the  Nation,  vol.  i.  p.  335. 


468  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

where  they  are  wholly  dependent  upon  others  for  the  provision 
which  they  require,  that  provision  should  be  at  least  as  kind  and 
liberal  for  the  human  bipeds  as  for  the  domestic  quadrupeds. 
It  might  be  extremely  difficult  to  eiFect  this ;  but,  until  this  is 
done,  our  condition  is  not  half  Christian.  Avarice,  by  force,  or 
cunning,  or  art,  — openly  sometimes,  but  more  often  covertly, — 
is  constantly  triumphing  over  humanity  and  justice  ;  and  it  may 
be  regarded  as  the  Juggernaut  of  civilization,  crushing  with  in- 
difference all  who  come  in  its  way. 

— -^.^ — I- 


LXXXIV.  —  MORAL   CONSIDERATIONS. 

Before  we  turn  from  the  ploughed  field  which  we  have  been 
contemplating,  I  have  but  one  or  two  more  remarks  to  make, 
which  will  not,  I  hope,  be  deemed  out  of  place.  The  ordinary 
operations  of  nature  are  so  familiar,  that  we  cease  to  look  at 
them  with  surprise.  We  choose  to  wrap  ourselves  up  in  our 
own  conceit,  and,  certain  facts  regularly  occurring  under  certain 
conditions  and  circumstances,  we  satisfy  ourselves  with  saying 
that  it  is  according  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and  think  therefore 
that  we  understand  it.  I  do  not  perceive  that  we  understand  it 
any  the  better  because  it  is  according  to  the  laws  of  nature  ; 
since  these  laws  themselves,  in  their  ultimate  causes  and  opera- 
tions, are  utterly  insoluble  to  the  human  understanding,  and  the 
frequency  and  uniformity  of  their  results,  so  far  from  lessening, 
actually  increase  the  miracle.  I  say  miracle,  for  in  no  other 
light  than  as  miraculous  can  we  regard  the  changing  scene 
which  is  now  to  pass  before  our  eyes.  The  field,  as  we  now 
look  at  it,  presents  but  a  naked  surface  of  inert  dust ;  but  there 
are  powers  and  influences  at  work,  within  and  around  it,  of  the 
most  subtle  and  amazing  character.  The  earth  has  opened  its 
bosom,  and  the  children  of  men  are  to  receive  nourishment  and 
life  from  the  bounty  of  their  common  mother.  Man  casts  the 
dry  seeds  upon  these  naked  furrows,  and  they  are  at  once  quick- 
ened into  life.  The  earth,  the  air,  the  sun,  the  rain,  all  lend 
their  combined  aid,  in  exactly  such  measure,  and  at  such  time. 


HARROWING.  469 

as  is  needed  for  the  perfection  of  the  work.  The  plants  rise 
out  of  the  ground  with  a  spirit  and  beauty  which  no  human  art 
can  rival.  The  hand  of  an  invisible  artist  is  at  work  to  expand 
the  roots,  to  train  the  stem,  to  mould  the  leaves,  to  protect  all 
with  a  net-work  of  the  finest  web,  to  throw  in  colors  of  exquisite 
beauty,  and  to  fill  the  pendent  seed-vessels  with  bread,  for  the 
sustenance  and  nourishment  of  animal  life.  In  a  few  weeks,  or 
months,  the  field  so  lately  naked  and  desolate  is  laden  with 
treasures  far  richer  than  gold,  and  for  which  all  the  glittering 
diamonds  of  Peru,  and  all  the  shining  pearls  of  Orient  climes, 
would  be  no  substitute.  Man  gathers  what,  with  strange  pre- 
sumption, he  calls  the  products  of  his  skill  and  labor,  and  fills 
his  garner  with  the  golden  treasures  of  the  fields.  Now,  because 
this  happens  so  regularly  and  so  frequently,  shall  it  cease  to 
excite  his  surprise,  and  touch  his  heart  ?  In  my  humble  opinion. 
its  frequency,  and  its  comparative  certainty,  vastly  expand  the 
miracle ;  and  if  the  rich  fruits  of  a  beneficence,  so  entirely 
beyond  his  command  and  control,  yet  withal  so  constant,  so 
faithful,  so  liberal,  call  out  no  aspirations  of  piety,  if  "  harvest 
home  "  awakens  no  anthem  of  thanksgiving  and  reverence  in 
his  soul,  he  must  not  claim  an  equality  even  with  the  animals 
which  he  drives,  for  ''  the  ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass 
his  master's  crib." 


LXXXV.  —  HARROWING. 

There  are  various  operations  to  be  gone  through  with,  after 
the  ploughing.  The  first  object  in  English  cultivation  is  to 
reduce  the  soil  to  as  fine  a  tilth  as  possible.  Tull,  who  is  some- 
times called  the  father  of  .English  arable  cultivation,  deemed  the 
loosening,  and  stirring,  and  reducing  the  soil,  as  all  that  was 
necessary  to  its  productiveness,  and  that  manure  might  be  dis- 
pensed with.  The  first  position  was  the  foundation  of  great 
improvements;  but  the  latter  was  soon  discovered  to  be  an 
error.  His  practice,  which  was  tried  by  many  persons,  laid  the 
foundation  of  what  is  called  the  New  Husbandry,  and  may  be 
40 


470  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

considered  as  constituting  an  era  in  English  agriculture.  It  is 
curious  to  observe,  that  oftentimes,  in  human  history,  great  mis- 
takes lead  to  great  improvements  and  discoveries;  and  in  the 
complicated  course  of  human  affairs,  a  divine  Providence,  in 
comparison  with  which  human  sagacity  can  scarcely  be  con- 
sidered other  than  as  arrant  folly,  converts  the  errors  of  man 
into  instruments  of  truth  and  knowledge.  Experiment  is  the 
highway  to  science,  and  it  is  as  desirable,  in  many  cases,  to 
know  wliat  will  not,  as  to  know  what  will  succeed.  Men  are 
always  ready,  through  self-esteem  and  the  love  of  approbation, 
to  detail  and  magnify  any  fortunate  results ;  but  he  is  a  brave 
man,  and  more  entitled  to  respect,  who,  by  way  of  caution,  will 
expose  his  failures,  and  guard  the  sanguine  and  adventurous 
against  the  errors  in  which  he  himself  became  involved.  This 
is  a  noble  disinterestedness ;  but  many  men,  like  the  fox  who 
lost  his  brush  in  a  steel  trap,  wish  nothing  so  much  as  to  see 
their  neighbors  subjected  to  the  same  mortification. 

The  Romans,  in  their  husbandry,  prescribed  four  distinct 
processes  of  arable  culture.  The  first  was  to  break  the  land ; 
the  second  to  turn  it  over ;  the  third  was  to  break  it  again  ;  the 
fourth  was  to  turn  it  again. *"  They  understood  perfectly  the 
use  and  advantages  of  thorough  and  deep  tillage.  The  English 
farmers  are  fully  aware  of  this,  and  follow  repeated  ploughings, 
with  various  other  processes. 

The  first  is  that  of  harrowing.  This  is  done  lengthwise  with 
the  furrow  always  in  the  first  instance,  and  then  crosswise, 
until  the  surface  is  completely  mellowed  and  pulverized.  With 
us,  in  general,  harrows  are  made  single,  and  the  teeth  set  in 
wooden  frames,  and,  though  they  are  usually  made  square,  yet 
the  chain  is  generally  attached  to  one  of  the  corners,  which 
gives  them  a  diamond  shape,  and  is  supposed  to  lessen  the 
draught.  We  seldom  take  a  breadth,  in  such  case,  of  more  than 
four  and  a  half  or  five  feet.  Here  the  best  harrows  are  made, 
both  frames  and  teeth,  of  iron.  The  teeth,  or  tines,  work  to  a 
depth  of  five  to  eight  inches,  and  follow  each  other  in  lines 
about  four  inches  apart.  Seed  harrows,  or  harrows  for  covering 
the  seed,  have  tines  about  four  inches  in  length,  and  are  made 
proportionately  light. 

*  1.  Fringere.    2.  Vertere.    3.  Refringere.    4.  Revertere. 


HARROWING.  471 

I  do  not  know  that  I  can  do  better  for  my  readers,  than  to 
subjoin  the  remarks  and  illustrations  of  one  of  the  most  eminent 
implement  makers  in  Great  Britain,  Mr.  J.  Allen  Ransome,  in 
his  valuable  treatise  on  the  *'  Implements  of  Husbandry." 

"  It  is  admitted,  by  all  acquainted  with  the  subject,  that  har- 
rowing, especially  on  heavy  soils,  is  the  most  laborious  operation 
on  the  farm,  — not  so  much,  perhaps,  on  account  of  the  quantum 
of  power  requisite  for  the  draught,  (though  this  is  sometime^ 
considerable,)  as  for  the  speed  with  which  the  operation  is,  or 
ought  to  be,  accompanied ;  and  yet  it  is  frequently  left  to  the 
charge  of  mere  boys,  and  sometimes  performed  by  the  worst 
horses  on  the  farm. 

"  If  we  examine  a  field,  one  half  of  which  has  been  harrowed 
with  weak,  inefficient  horses,  and  whose  pace  was  consequently 
sluggish,  the  other  half  with  an  adequate  strength  and  swiftness 
of  animal  power,  we  shall  find  the  former  will  be  rough  and 
unfinished,  the  latter  comparatively  firm  and  level,  and  com- 
pleted in  what  would  be  called  a  husbandry-like  manner. 
Scarcely  any  thing  in  farming  is  more  unsightly  than  the  wavy, 
serpentine  traces  of  inefficient  harrowing.  The  generality  of 
harrows  appear  too  heavy  and  clumsy  to  admit  of  that  despatch 
without  which  the  work  cannot  be  well  done ;  and  though  it  is 
evident  that  different  soils  demand  implements  of  proportionate 
weight  and  power,  yet,  for  the  most  part,  harrows  have  been 
rather  over  than  under  weighted,  particularly  when  employed 
after  a  drill,  or  to  bury  seeds  of  any  kind. 

''  Harrowing  has  been  so  long  regarded  as  an  operation  which 
must  be  attended  with  considerable  horse-labor,  that  attention 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  sufficiently  turned  to  the  inquiry 
whether  this  labor  might  not  be  greatly  reduced,  by  lightening 
the  instruments  with  which  it  is  performed.  Many  would  be 
surprised  at  the  amount  of  reduction  of  which  seed-harrows,  at 
least,  are  capable,  and,  where  land  is  clean,  to  see  how  effectively 
a  gang  of  very  light  small-toothed  harrows  may  be  used. 

"  Having  noticed,  in  some  parts  of  Norfolk,  the  perfect  manner 
in  which  seed  corn  is  covered  by  a  common  rake  with  wooden 
teeth,  a  friend  of  mine  constructed  a  gang  of  harrows  on  the 
following  plan,  and  he  states  that  it  proved  the  most  popular  and 
useful  implement  of  the  kind  to  the  farm. 


472 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


Gang  of  Light  Seed-Harrows. 


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"  The  frames  are  of  ash,  and  as  light  as 
possible,  with  iron  teeth,  being  but  three 
inches  long,  exclusive  of  the  part  which 
enters  the  wood-work.  They  screw 
into  the  balks  in  the  manner  shown  in 
the  annexed  figure. 

*'It  should  be  observed  that  the  above  four  harrows  are  amply 
sufficient  to  cover  a  twelve-furrow  stetch  or  ridge,  of  108  inches, 
but  three  will  be  wide  enough  for  a  three-furrow  stetch  of  90 
inches,  exclusive  of  a  small  portion  of  the  furrows.  If  for  some 
purposes  the  teeth  be  found  too  thick,  every  alternate  tooth  may 
be  taken  out ;  but  for  general  purposes  this  will  hardly  be  neces- 
sary. The  two  horses  require,  on  this  plan,  to  be  kept  quite 
level ;  for,  if  one  be  suffered  to  go  in  advance  of  the  other,  a 
diagonal  line  is  produced,  by  which  the  teeth  will  be  made  to 
follow  each  other,  instead  of  cutting  fresh  ground.  I  am  aware 
that,  by  the  usual  construction  of  harrows,  a  diagonal  line  of 
draught  is  required,  in  order  to  throw  the  teeth  into  a  proper 
working  position ;  but  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  the  opinion, 
that  the  correct  working  of  the  implement  ought  to  depend  on 
its  construction,  and  not  on  any  particular  mode  of  working  it. 
Besides,  the  system  of  keeping  one  horse  in  advance  of  his 
partner  is  bad  in  principle ;  it  is  an  unequal  division  of  labor, 
the  fore-horse  being  compelled  to  do  more  than  his  share  of  the 
work,  which,  under  any  circumstances,  is  always  heavy  enough. 


H AIIROWING.  ^0siij^ 


473 


The  balks  of  the  above  set  of  harrows  were  made  of  wood,  in 
order  to  insure  extraordinary  lightness;  but,  for  general  purposes, 
I  prefer  those  made  of  iron,  the  weight  of  which  can  be  increased 
to  any  reasonable  degree,  without  adding  much  to  their  sub- 
stance. This  is  important  in  working  tenacious  clays,  which, 
by  adhering  to  the  common  clumsy  wooden  balks,  considerably 
increase  the  labor,  and  at  the  same  time  impede  the  proper 
execution." 

Sometimes  harrows  are  made  in  two  parts,  that  is,  two  small 
and  complete  harrows,  placed  side  and  side,  and  united  by  flex- 
ible hinges.  In  such  case,  the  harrow  can  be  reduced  to  half 
its  width,  by  one  part  being  doubled  over  on  the  back  of  the 
other ;  or,  when  the  land  is  in  ridges,  and  the  harrow  travels  on 
the  summit  of  the  ridge,  the  two  parts,  by  the  flexible  junction 
in  the  centre,  are  able  to  accommodate  themselves  to  the  curva- 
ture of  the  ground  upon  which  they  travel.  Sometimes  three  or 
four  harrows  are  attached  first  to  each  other,  by  these  hinges, 
side  and  side,  and  then  to  a  single  beam,  to  the  ends  of  which 
the  traces  of  the  horses  are  appended,  and  in  this  case  they 
sweep  a  breadth  of  nine  feet.  This  carries  on  the  work  with 
great  rapidity.  A  pair  of  good  horses  might  carry  such  a  breadth 
without  difficulty,  upon  light  land  j  but  upon  a  heavy  and  tena- 
cious soil,  the  labor  would  be  too  great  for  them. 

"  Gang  of  Heavy  Iron  Harrows. 


"  The  above  engraving  of  iron  harrows  is  introduced  to  show 
the  form  in  which  they  are  usually  made  j    they  are  used  in 
40* 


474  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

gangs  of  three,  four,  or  five,  as  may  be  required  to  suit  the  lauds 
on  which  they  are  used,  and  may  be  made  to  any  weight  re- 
quired."* No  inteUigent  farmer,  however,  will  ever  think  of 
harrowing  his  land,  unless  it  be  of  the  lightest  description,  in  a 
wet  state.  It  has  been  by  some  persons  deemed  an  improve- 
ment to  make  the  front  tines  of  a  harrow  shorter  than  the  back 
ones ;  but  no  advantage  comes  from  this.  By  many  the  practice  — 
and  in  my  opinion  with  reason  —  is  condemned,  as  the  instrument, 
in  such  case,  unless  brought  too  near  the  horses,  will  be  found  to 
dip  in  front,  by  which  means  the  draught  is  considerably  in- 
creased. Teeth  of  a  uniform  length  throughout  are  to  be  pre- 
ferred. The  flexibility  given  to  a  harrow,  by  a  hinge  in  the 
centre,  is  a  great  improvement.  In  many  cases,  one  harrow  is 
attached  to  another  so  as  to  follow  it,  but  so  far  removed  to  one 
side  or  the  other,  that  the  teeth  follow  in  different  lines.  In 
such  case,  it  is  obvious  that  the  draught  must  be  very  much 
increased,  both  from  the  distance  of  the  last  harrow  from  the 
moving  power,  and  from  its  lying  flat  and  dead  upon  the  ground, 
and  having  no  advantage  of  the  lift  which  is  given  to  the  for- 
ward harrow  by  the  chain  which  attaches  it  to  the  horses,  and 
which  it  would  have,  if  it  were  set  in  the  same  frame. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  harrows,  but,  excepting  the  frame 
being  made  of  iron  instead  of  wood,  and  their  being  connected 
by  hinges,  so  as  that  the  frame  becomes,  so  to  speak,  flexible,  I 
see  no  prominent  excellence  to  be  pointed  out.  '^  In  an  experi- 
ment made  between  a  pair  of  wooden  harrows  and  a  pair  of  iron 
ones  constructed  on  the  same  plan,  and  having  the  same  number, 
and  precisely  the  same  disposition,  of  the  teeth  and  frames, 
although  those  of  iron  were  found  to  be  20  pounds  lighter  than 
those  of  wood,  yet  the  former  worked  decidedly  better  and 
steadier  than  the  latter ;  in  fact,  the  iron  harrows  cut  into  the 
land,  while  those  made  of  wood  rode,  or  rather  danced,  upon  the 
surface." 

A  harrow,  called  a  web  or  chain  brush  harrow,  invented  b}^ 
Mr.  Smith,  of  Deanston,  I  have  seen,  but  not  in  operation  ;  and 
its  efiect  must  be  to  reduce  the  surface  to  a  very  fine  tilth,  but  it 
is  not  its  object  to  penetrate  the  soil.  If  we  take  a  number  of 
small  iron  circular  plates,  perhaps  three  inches  in  diameter,  with 

*  Ransome. 


HARROWING. 


475 


thin  or  sharpened  edges,  and  string  them  upon  iron  rods,  upon 
which  they  will  revolve  freely,  and  arrange  them  in  squares  like 
the  panes  of  a  window  or  sash,  and  with  enough  of  them  to 
form  the  desired  size  of  a  harrow,  we  shall  have  formed  the 
instrument  to  which  I  refer.  As  they  revolve  vertically,  and 
are  drawn  over  the  surface,  their  tendency  is  to  cut  all  the  lumps 
into  fine  pieces,  and  to  leave  the  surface  well  reduced  and  pul- 
verized. 

At  Lord  Hatherton's  well-managed  farm,  at  Teddesley  Park, 
Staffordshire,  I  saw  a  revolving  harrow,  somewhat  resembling  a 
hay-spreading  machine,  the  long  and  curved  teeth  of  which  pen- 
etrated the  ground  deeply,  thoroughly  stirred  it,  and  brought  the 
weeds  and  rubbish  to  the  surface.  It  was  moved  upon  low 
wheels,  and  performed  its  work  most  effectually. 

I  shall  borrow,  for  the  benefit  of  my  readers,  an  account  of 
BiddelPs  extirpating  harrow  from  Mr.  Ransome's  valuable  book, 
before  quoted.  I  have  not  seen  the  instrument  at  work,  but 
its  efficiency  will  be  understood  from  the  account. 

•'  Biddell's  Extirpating  Harrow. — This  is  a  new  implement, 
invented  by  Arthur  Biddell,  of  Playford,  and  similar  to  the  scar- 


ifier which  bears  his  name.  It  is  intended  for  breaking  up  land 
when  it  is  too  hard  for  the  heaviest  harrows,  and  for  bringing 
winter  fallows  into  a  state  of  fine  tillage.     In  working  summer- 


476  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

lands,  it  is  calculated,  by  the  shape  of  its  teeth,  to  bring  to  the 
surftice  all  grass  and  rubbish.  The  teeth  are  placed  in  three 
rows,  in  order  to  allow  sufficient  distance  from  each  other  to 
prevent  choking,  and  the  implement  is  so  constructed  as  that,  by 
means  of  levers,  the  teeth  may  be  elevated  or  depressed  at 
pleasure.  According  to  the  form  of  the  lands  it  may  be  required 
to  operate  upon,  it  may  either  be  used  perfectly  parallel,  or  the 
fore  teeth  may  be  made  to  penetrate  deeper  than  the  hinder  ones, 
whilst  those  at  either  side  may,  when  one  wheel  is  required  to 
run  in  the  furrow,  be  instantly  adjusted  to  the  level  of  the  land, 
so  that  every  tine  shall  penetrate  to  a  uniform  depth  of  six 
inches,  if  required  ;  and  they  will  work  equally  well  at  any  less 
depth. 

"  I  have  frequently  seen  this  implement  at  work  on  very  foul 
land  and  on  stubbles,  when  it  has  been  too  hard  to  allow  the 
use  of  the  plough.  As  the  interval  between  the  lines  formed  by 
its  teeth  does  not  exceed  four  inches,  the  soil  has  been  com- 
pletely stirred.  The  tines  may  be  either  used  with  points  or 
with  steel  hoes ;  and  with  the  latter  the  skimming,  or,  as  it  is 
frequently  called,  the  '  broadshare '  process,  may  be  quickly 
accomplished.  The  weight  is  not  found  to  be  a  disadvantage, 
but,  from  the  stability  it  gives,  the  contrary ;  and,  being  borne 
on  high  wheels,  it  does  not  require  so  much  horse-labor  as  might 
be  supposed,  two  horses,  on  most  soils,  being  generally  suffi- 
cient." 


LXXXVI.  —  SCARIFYING,    OR   GRUBBING. 

What  is  called,  in  England,  the  scarifying  or  grubbing  of  land, 
is  little  else  than  harrowing  it  with  a  deeper  and  stronger  instru- 
ment than  a  common  harrow,  with  a  view  to  reduce  it  to  fine 
tilth,  and  to  bring  up  the  roots  and  weeds  which  may  infest  the 
land.  The  English  and  Scotch  aim,  in  their  husbandry,  at  an 
extreme  cleanness  of  cultivation.  There  are  —  as  it  would  be 
strange  if  there  were  not  —  examples  among  them  of  slovenly 
cultivation  ;  but  cleanness  is  the  prominent  and  almost  universal 
characteristic  of  their  husbandry.     The  late  Lord  Leicester,  (Mr. 


OR    GRUBBING.  477 

Coke,  of  Holkham)  used  to  make  it  his  boast,  that  not  a  weed 
could  be  found  in  extensive  fields  of  his  cuhivation,  and  offered 
a  high  reward  for  the  discovery  of  one.  The  couch  grass, 
(tfiticum  repens,)  and  the  common  charlock,  (wild  mustard,)  and 
the  poppy,  abound,  in  some  districts,  to  a  most  extraordinary 
degree  ;  and  in  cleaning  the  fields,  in  the  autumn,  of  couch  grass, 
the  piles  of  it  which  are  sometimes  seen  would  lead  one  to 
suppose  that  it  was  the  only  crop  grown  on  such  places.  In 
some  cases,  where  the  land  is  very  dirty,  and  the  cleansing  very 
thorough,  the  heaps  of  weeds  have  been  as  numerous  as  cocks 
of  hay  in  a  mown  field. 

The  general  practice  is,  to  burn  these  heaps  upon  the  field,  to 
the  expediency  of  which  I  strongly  demur.  The  amount  of 
ashes  obtained  in  such  case  is  altogether  inconsiderable.  The 
couch  grass  being  extremely  vivacious,  and  propagated  from 
every  joint,  it  is  not  easy  to  bury  it  so  deep  as  to  extirpate  it. 
Some  of  the  Scotch  farmers  pile  it  up  at  the  outside  of  their 
fields,  and  mingle  with  it  quicklime,  which  of  course  soon 
consumes  it.  I  cannot  help  thinking  it  would  be  much  better  to 
use  it  as  litter  in  the  cattle-sheds  or  stalls,  and  fold-yards,  where, 
by  the  trampling  of  the  stock,  it  would  soon  become  decomposed, 
and,  without  danger  of  starting  again  into  life,  it  would  go  to 
essentially  increase  the  compost  heap. 

The  operation  of  scarifiers,  or  grubbers,  will  be  seen  at  once 
by  a  reference  to  the  plate.  Many  of  them  are  certainly  very 
efficient  instruments,  and,  when  the  team  is  sufficiently  powerful, 
stir  the  land  most  thoroughly  to  a  great  depth.  There  is  a  con- 
siderable variety  of  them ;  and  the  peculiar  excellences  of  each 
of  them  are  always  fully  set  forth  by  the  inventor  or  maker,  — 
in  doing  which,  there  seems  to  be  no  want  of  talent  or  address 
among  the  English,  and  some  of  them  may  fairly  challenge  com- 
petition with  Peter  Pindar's  razor-seller,  or  with  any  of  the 
vivacious  and  voluble  tribe  of  Connecticut  pedlers. 

The  infinite  variety  of  machines  and  mechanical  contrivances 
exhibited  at  the  great  agricultural  shows  in  this  country,  cover- 
ing literally  acres  and  acres  of  ground,  strikes  a  visitor  with 
astonishment.  As,  in  reading  the  accounts  of  patent  medicines 
in  the  public  newspapers,  one  is  led  to  think  that  the  reign  of 
disease  is  abolished,  and  the  victory  of  health,  life,  and  perpetual 
youth,  on  earth,  secured,  so,  in  looking  at  the  number  and  variety 


478  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

of  agricultural  implements  presented  on  such  occasions,  and  the 
diversity  of  purposes  which  they  are  most  certainly  and  effectu- 
ally to  accomplish,  one  is  almost  persuaded  that  human  labor 
and  superintendence  may  be  dispensed  with ;  and  that  the 
farmer,  as  he  would  wind  up  his  clock  on  Monday  morning  so 
that  it  may  run  all  the  week,  so  he  has  only  to  set  his  agricul- 
tural machinery  in  motion,  and  may  then  leave  the  field  with  a 
quiet  confidence  that  every  thing  will  proceed  as  he  desires  it 
should.  After  having  visited,  likewise,  the  establishments  of 
many  large  proprietors,  and  seen  the  broken  and  condemned 
implements,  and  the  piled-up,  useless  lumber  of  this  description, 
in  their  implement-rooms  and  sheds,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that 
there  is,  among  a  great  many  men  well  informed  in  other  mat- 
ters, a  fair  share  of  susceptibility  to  imposition;  that  ''razors 
made  to  sell "  meet  with  no  want  of  purchasers  in  England ; 
and  that  the  manufacturers  perfectly  understand  themselves, 
when  they  have  got  their  pail  under  a  full  cow.  The  human 
tongue  is  certainly  an  extraordinary  piece  of  machinery,  and  its 
flexibility  cannot  be  sufficiently  admired.  I  see,  in  the  papers  of 
the  week  when  I  am  writing,  an  advertisement  of  a  potato- 
powder,  recommended  to  families  to  be  put  into  the  pot  with  the 
potatoes  to  be  boiled,  so  as  to  correct  the  evils  of  the  diseased 
potato,  and  not  only  to  neutralize  its  pernicious  influences,  but 
actually  to  convert  the  diseased  portions  into  useful  nourishment. 
The  price  and  place  of  sale  are  both  given.  There  will  be  many 
to  buy,  beyond  all  question.  When  will  the  reign  of  empiricism 
cease  on  earth  ?     When  the  last  man  has  left  it ;  and  not  sooner. 

The  operation  of  scarifying  will  be  better  understood  from  a 
picture  of  some  of  the  principal  instruments  in  use  than  from 
any  verbal  description. 

The  first  to  which  I  shall  refer  is  called,  after  the  name  of  its 
inventor, 

Biddell's  Scarifier  —  and  I  shall  allow  the  manufacturer  to 
speak  for  himself. 

*'  This  implement  is  for  the  purpose  of  cultivating  land  under  a 
variety  of  circumstances,  and  bringing  it  into  a  proper  state  of 
tilth  much  more  efi*ectually,  and  at  less  expense,  than  can  be 
done  by  the  means  generally  employed  for, that  purpose. 


OR    GRUBBING.  479 

'*lt  may  be  successfully  used  to  clean  wheat,  bean,  and  pea 
stubbles,  directly  after  harvest ; 

"  To  break  up  such  parts  of  clover  layers  as  may  have  failed 
in  the  plant,  and  to  break  up  land  after  green  crops,  in  May  or 
June,  in  preparation  for  turnips,  cole  worts,  (fee.  ;  thus  accom- 
plishing fine  and  deep  tillage,  without  bringing  fresh  earth  to 
the  surface-land,  in  preparation  for  barley  and  oats. 


"/^s  Advantages  are — Savings  in  Tillage^  of  half  the  labor, 
both  manual  and  horse,  over  the  ordinary  method  of  cleaning 
land. 

'*  Saving  of  Time.  Lands  may  be  broken  and  stirred,  with 
this  implement,  in  much  less  time  than  with  the  plough. 

*'  Improved  Cultivation.  The  operation  of  this  scarifier  is  much 
more  effective  for  spring  crops  on  strong  lands  than  ploughing, 
as  it  occasions  less  treading  by  horses,  produces  more  mould,  and 
allows  the  moisture  to  be  more  advantageously  retained ;  and  the 
seed  will  be  deposited  in  the  soil  which  has  been  exposed  to  the 
winter  frosts. 

''  Less  harroiDing  is  required,  as  the  land  is  broken  up,  and 
left  much  finer  than  after  the  plough. 

^^The  couch  grass  {if  any)  is  brought  to  the  surface  without 
breaking  it. 


480  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

"  The  land  is  left  by  this  implement  in  a  state  to  be  immedi- 
ately harrowed,  which  may  be  done  in  time  to  break  the  clods 
before  they  become  too  hard. 

*'  In  all  cases,  where  it  is  desirable  to  give  tillage  to  the  land 
without  turning  down  the  surface,  this  implement  may  be  used 
with  great  advantage. 

^^ Directions  for  using  the  Scarifier. — In  using  the  scarifier, 
attention  should  be  paid  to  set  it  level,  and  the  depth  of  scarify- 
ing may  be  varied  from  one  to  ten  inches,  which  is  done  by 
means  of  the  two  levers. 

"  When  the  land  is  very  hard,  and  required 
to  be  cut  clean,  first  use  the  chisel  points,  and 
then  follow  with  the  wide  hoes. 

*•  The  chisel  points  only  should  be  used  on 
clover  leys ;  the  roots  of  the  clover  being  too  tough  for  the  hoes, 
and  are  not  required  to  be  cut  up. 

"  The  horses  should  be  kept  in  a  direct  line,  and  the  imple- 
ment not  suffered  to  turn  without  taking  the  fore  part  out  of  the 
ground  hy  means  of  the  long  lever.  Particular  attention  should 
be  paid  to  this ;  for,  although  the  slanting  direction  in  which  the 
tines  are  set  will  bear  the  draught  required  while  the  horses  go 
straight  forward,  they  cannot  stand  against  the  twist,  if  the 
scarifier  be  turned  round  before  the  front  tines  are  taken  out  of 
their  work.  It  is  also  needful  to  observe,  that  the  draught  iron 
from  the  fore  wheels,  upon  which  the  whippletrees  hang,  should 
be  suspended  by  the  draught  chain  higher  than  where  the  three 
draught  irons  (when  in  work)  go  upon  the  upright  part  of  the 
fore  axletree ;  otherwise,  this  may  bend  or  give  way, 

"  The  wheels,  on  either  side,  may  be  made  to  go  higher  or 
lower  by  shifting  the  coupling  irons,  where  holes  are  made  for 
that  purpose,  where  one  wheel  has  to  work  in  the  furrow ;  which 
may  be  the  case  when  a  stetch  is  scarified  by  going  on  one  side 
of  it,  and  coming  back  on  the  other. 

"  It  is  essential  to  have  whippletrees  adapted  to  the  imple- 
ment ;  if  otherwise,  it  will  fail  to  scarify  up  the  foot-marks  of 
the  horses." 

The  next  implement  for  the  purposes  described,  and  which 
has  been  a  long  time  in  use,  is  called 


SCARIFYING,    OR    GRUBBING. 


481 


Finlayson's  Self-Cleaning  Harrow.  — ''  This  is  an  efficient 
implement  for  cleaning  lands  under  tillage  from  couch  grass  and 
other  weeds ;  the  curvature  of  its  teeth  being  so  formed  as  to 
bring  to  the  surface  all  weeds  and  vegetable  rubbish." 


This  was  among  the  first  improvements  of  the  kind,  and  has 
been  followed  by  a  great  many  other  inventions,  of  which  I 
shall  offer  only  two  other  examples.     The  first  is, 

Kirkwood's  Grubber.  — ''  The  leverage  that  is  obtained  by 
pressing  on  the  handles  or  stilts  of  this  machine,  whether  in  action 


or  at  rest,  is  so  simple,  and  yet  so  powerful  in  its  effect,  as  to  reg- 
ulate the  depth  of  the  tines  to  the  greatest  nicety ;  or,  in  cases 
of  obstruction,  to  throw  them  out  altogether.  It  is  an  admirable 
implement,  and  well  deserving  the  high  commendation  generally 
bestowed  on  it."  Objections  have  been  made,  however,  to  the 
form  of  its  teeth. 


The  next  instrument  which  I  shall  notice  is  called  the   Uley 
cultivator^    and  made   at  the    iron  and  agricultural  implement 
41 


482 


EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 


works  of  the  Earl  of  Ducie,  at  Uley,  in  Gloucestershirej  and  under 
the  direction  and  management  of  a  highly  intelligent  and  prac- 
tical machinist,  Mr.  Richard  Clyburn,  a  visit  to  whose  establish- 
ment afforded  me  the  highest  gratification. 

The  Uley  Cultivator.  —  "  No.  1  size,  with  5  tines,  covering 
a  space  of  40  inches. 

"No.  2  size,  with  7  tines,  covering  a  space  of  56  inches. 

"  The  improvements  consist,  first, 
in  a  new  method  of  fastening  the 
tine  into  the  frame,  so  as  to  insure 
a  sufficiency  of  strength  to  the  upper 
end  of  the  tine,  where  the  greatest 
strength  is  required ;  secondly,  in 
making  the  scarifiers  and  grubbers 
concave  on  the  under  side,  which  causes  them  to  wear  to  a 
sharp  edge,  and  enter  the  ground  better,  where  it  is  very 
hard ;  thirdly,  in  constructing  them  in  such  a  way,  they  can  be 
made  of  wrought  iron. 

"  The  frame  is  of  cast-iron,  made  to  receive  five  or  seven  tines, 
each  tine  covering  a  space  of  eight  inches,  and  so  arranged  that, 
although  drawing  lines  only  eight  inches  apart,  they  are  two 
feet  from  each  other ;  this,  with  their  curved  shape,  and  length, 
prevents  its  clogging  in  the  foulest  land.  There  are  three  sorts 
of  points  ;  one,  two  inches  wide,  for  grubbing  up  or  breaking  land  ,• 
another,  nine  inches  wide,  for  working  stubble ;  the  third  set  has 
steel  blades,  and  are  used  for  paring,  instead  of  the  breast-plough  : 
these  points  all  fit  the  tines  without  pins  to  hold  them.  The 
tines  are  fastened  into  the  frame  with  a  split  key  and  cotter ;  and, 
in  case  of  breaking,  they  can  be  taken  out  and  others  put  in,  as 
easy  as  the  colter  of  a  plough.  The  height  of  the  frame  from 
the  ground  is  about  two  feet;  the  wheels  are  of  cast-iron,  the 
front  ones  1  foot  6  inches  diameter,  and  the  back  ones  3  feet  4 
inches  diameter.  The  machine  is  raised  and  lowered  by  turning 
a  handle,  the  axle  of  which  has  a  Avorm  fixed  on  it,  working  into 
a  wheel  fixed  in  the  crank-axle  of  the  back  wheels.  This  wheel 
has  a  projecting  arm,  in  which  a  stud  is  fixed  :  to  this  stud  is 
attached  a  connecting-rod,  the  upper  end  of  which  is  connected 
to  the  long  lever  which  has  its  fulcrum  in  the  centre,  and  is 
connected  with  the  frame  by  a  joint ;  the  other  end  of  the  lever 


GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  THE  USE  OF  AGRICULTURAL  MACHINERY.   483 

is  connected  to  the  top  of  the  T  axle,  on  which  the  front  wheels 
work.  It  will  be  seen  by  this  arrangement  that,  if  the  handle  is 
turned  to  the  right,  the  machine  is  lifted  up ;  and  if  to  the  left, 
let  down :  this  is  indicated  by  the  dial-plate  on  the  right-hand 
side  of  the  machine,  marked  in  inches,  in  and  out  of  the  ground ; 
one  rotation  of  the  handle  raises  or  lowers  the  machine  one 
inch." 

This  instrument,  wherever  it  has  bieen  used,  has  been  highly 
approved. 

It  will  be  obvious  to  my  readers,  that  the  object  of  these  sev- 
eral inventions  is  to  put  the  ground  into  a  fine  and  deep  cultiva- 
tion ;  and,  in  many  cases,  the  scarifier  will  be  substituted  with 
great  advantage  for  the  plough.  In  the  spring  of  the  year,  es- 
pecially, where  land  has  been  ploughed  in  the  autumn,  it  would 
be  most  injudicious,  in  many  cases,  to  reverse  the  sward  with  a 
plough,  and  at  the  same  time,  as  the  wetness  of  the  land  may 
require  that  it  should  be  cultivated  lightly,  a  harrow  or  scarifier 
presents  the  most  proper  implement. 

As  a.  matter  of  curiosity,  a  Table  of  ingenious,  exact,  and 
somewhat  useful  calculations,  in  regard  to  the  business  of 
ploughing  or  scarifying  land,  will  be  inserted  on  the  last  page 
of  this  Report. 


LXXXVII.  —  GENERAL  REMARKS  ON  THE  USE  OF  AGRI- 
CULTURAL MACHINERY. 

In  presenting  these  diflferent  examples  to  my  readers,  they  will 
not  expect  me  to  recommend  them,  nor  to  mark  a  preference  of 
one  over  the  other.  That  I  must  leave  wholly  to  their  judg- 
ment. 1  have  only  to  say  that  the  best  results  are  to  be  ex- 
pected only  from. the  most  careful  and  thorough  cultivation;  but 
with  the  best  feelings  towards  those  ingenious  mechanics  and 
artisans  who  have  done  so  much  to  alleviate  and  facilitate  labor, 
my  own  experience,  and  that  of  many  friends,  would  lead  me 
to  advise  to  caution  in  the  purchase  of  any   machines  whose 


484  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

Utility  has  not  been  thoroughly  tested,  and  especially  those  of  a 
complicated  or  expensive  character.  A  machine  which  promises 
much  may  greatly  disappoint  us  in  the  results.  Some  of  the 
most  complex  machines  perform  only  that  which  the  most 
simple  would  accomplish  with  half  the  trouble,  and  it  is  often 
quite  as  dijfficult  to  manage  the  machine  as  to  perform  the  labor. 
A  machine  constructed  upon  the  most  sound  and  philosophical 
principles  requires,  many  times,  a  philosopher  to  guide  it.  Agri- 
cultural machines  of  a  complicated  nature  are  constantly  liable 
to  get  out  of  repair,  and  at  times  when  the  inconvenience  and 
loss,  occasioned  by  the  stoppage  of  the  work  from  such  acci- 
dents, are  excessive.  Then  the  conduct  and  management  of  the 
machine  must  go  into  the  hands  of  persons  who  are  ignorant 
and  stupid ;  who  have  a  prejudice  against  the  success  of  ma- 
chinery, because  they  erroneously  suppose  that  it  interferes  with 
their  labor ;  who  generally  resist  all  innovations,  and  who  but 
too  often  find  a  malicious  gratification  in  the  failure  of  all 
attempts  at  improvement.  The  remedies  for  this  very  common 
evil,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  The  first  is,  if  possible,  to  give 
the  laborer  a  direct  personal  interest  in  the  success  of  the  machine 
in  use.  The  second  is  less  direct,  and  can  only  be  looked  for  in 
the  future  ;  that  is,  the  better  education  of  the  laboring  classes, 
which  shall  enable  them  to  take  more  just  views  of  their  own 
private  interests,  and  understand  their  inseparable  identity  with 
all  measures  of  general  improvement,  with  the  progress  of  the 
mechanic  arts,  by  which,  if  labor  is  not  abridged,  production  is 
greatly  increased,  and  with  the  interests  and  welfare  of  every 
other  class  in  the  community.  Happy  will  it  be  for  the  world, 
when  the  true  principles  of  political  economy  —  so  well  illustrated, 
in  the  well-known  Latin  fable  of  the  revolt  of  the  limbs  against 
the  stomach,  and  as  clearly  in  the  sacred  writings,  when  the 
apostle  reminds  us  that  "  we  are  members  one  of  another,  and  if 
one  member  suffer,  all  the  members  suflfer  with  it,  and  if  one 
member  rejoices,  all  the  members  rejoice  with  it"  —  shall  be  every 
where  understood,  and,  if  we  may  dare  hope  for  such  a  result, 
conscientiously  applied  and  practised  upon. 


PARTICULAR   EXAMPLES    OF    IMPROVEMENT.  485 


LXXXVIIL  — PARTICULAR  EXAMPLES  OF  IMPROVEMENT. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  preparation  of  the  land,  by  culture,  for 
the  deposit  of  the  seed,  under  the  heads  of  ploughing,  subsoiling, 
paring,  deep-stirring,  scarifying,  and  harrowing ;  but  there  were 
two  processes  going  on,  in  Cornwall,  of  so  peculiar  a  character 
that  I  deem  it  proper  to  detail  them. 

1.  Tehidy.  —  The  first  was  at  Tehidy,  the  residence  of  Lady 
Bassett,  under  the  direction  of  an  intelligent  and  accomplished 
agriculturist,  a  gentleman  well  established  in  the  principles,  and 
familiar  with  the  practices,  of  agriculture,  in  the  best  cultivated 
districts  of  Scotland,  and  who  was  employed  not  merely  to  put 
the  home-estate  under  a  proper  course  of  management,  but,  by 
example,  counsel,  advice,  encouragement,  and  rewards,  to  assist 
and  induce  the  tenants  on  the  property  to  abandon  the  objection- 
able and  profitless  modes  of  husbandry  which  they  had  long 
followed,  and  introduce  a  better  system,  which  the  experience 
of  the  most  improving  and  best  farmers  in  the  country  had 
sanctioned. 

An  extensive  tract  of  land  on  the  sea-coast  was  underlaid, 
about  three  inches  below  the  surface,  with  a  compact  bed  of  flint 
stones,  of  four  and  six  inches  in  depth,  and  might  indeed  be  very 
properly  called  macadamized.  Vegetation  on  such  land  was 
almost  hopeless,  for  the  mould,  or  vegetable  matter,  on  the 
surface,  had  little  depth,  and  no  plough  or  cultivator  could  pene- 
trate this  obstinate  mass  of  stones.  But  this  farmer  undertook 
to  remove  with  pickaxes  this  entire  mass  of  stones,  and  had 
accomplished  a  considerable  tract  when  I  had  the  pleasure  to 
visit  it.  The  piles  of  stones  lay  as  thick,  as  and  very  much  larger, 
than  cocks  of  hay,  upon  the  field,  preparatory  to  their  being 
carted  away,  for  the  making  or  repairing  of  roads.  Under  this 
la^'-er  of  stones  was  found  a  soil  which  could  be  brought  into, 
and,  under  proper  manuring,  would  liberally  reward,  good  culti- 
vation. The  Cornish  men,  who,  in  the  capacity  of  miners,  are 
accustomed  to  face  difficulties  of  no  ordinary  magnitude,  and 
w4ll  march  up  against  the  brazen  walls  of  a  copper  mine,  where 
they  may  pick  and  hammer  away  for  weeks  and  months  with- 
41  # 


486  EUROPEAN     AGRICULTURE. 

out  reward,  with  as  much  indifference  as  they  would  cut  away 
upon  a  loaf  of  stale  bread,  performed  this  service  with  a  labor 
and  perseverance  worthy  of  all  praise.  Under  this  layer  of 
stones  was  a  soil  capable  of  productive  cultivation,  and  the  reward 
was  found  in  the  crops  which  were  growing  on  a  portion  of  the 
recovered  land.  After  the  stones  were  removed,  the  land  was 
subsoiled,  and  a  crop  of  turnips,  manured  with  guano,  was  taken. 
The  effects  of  guano,  when  the  land  manured  by  it  was  com- 
pared with  a  part  of  the  field  manured  only  with  the  ashes  of 
the  furze,  were  here  most  remarkable.  The  experiment  was  a 
brave,  and,  though  labor  was  at  a  low  rate,  it  was  an  expensive 
one;  but  as  the  land  was  comparatively  without  value  in  its 
former  state,  the  only  question  in  the  case  was,  whether  the 
land,  after  being  redeemed  in  this  way,  would  be  worth  the 
expense  of  the  recovery.  Heavy  as  this  expense  was,  the  land 
became  worth  a  great  deal  more  than  it  cost.  In  fact,  it  was  so 
much  land  literally  created  by  the  process ;  and  its  situation, 
where  it  was  easily  accessible,  greatly  enhanced  the  value. 

2.  Scobell's  Farm.  —  The  other  experiment  to  which  I 
referred  was  going  on  between  Penzance  and  Land's  End,  on  the 
farm  of  Colonel  Scobell  —  a  farm,  in  respect  to  parts  of  which 
the  culture  would  seem  like  going  upon  a  forlorn  hope,  the  land 
presenting  a  most  forbidding  aspect ;  and  yet  in  its  results 
exhibiting  a  conclusive  test  of  the  best  husbandry,  by  its  per- 
manent improvements,  and  its  ample  returns  for  the  labor  and 
expense  bestowed  upon  it. 

Some  parts  of  Cornwall  —  where  the  hospitality  of  the  inhab- 
itants is  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  quality  of  the  soil  —  reminded 
me  of  a  tract  of  country  very  well  known  to  many  persons  in  the 
United  States,  through  which  the  turnpike-road  passes  between 
Lynn  and  Salem,  in  Massachusetts,  which  some  one  facetiously 
called  the  ''  abomination  of  desolation,"  and  of  which  the  British 
prisoners,  in  passing  over  it  on  their  way  to  Boston,  in  the  last 
war,  demanded,  with  considerable  emphasis,  ''  whether  that  was 

the "  (here  using  a  theological  phrase,  which  it  would 

be  quite  improper  to  repeat  out  of  the  pulpit)  ''  country  for 
which  the  Americans  were  fighting."  There  is  this  remarkable 
difference,  however,  in  favor  of  Cornwall,  that,  like  sorne  old 
miser,  who  seeks  to  conceal  his  riches  under  an  appearance  of 


PARTICULAR    EXAMPLES    OF    IMPROVEMENT.  487 

extreme  squalidness  and  destitution,  it  is  underlaid  with  inex- 
haustible mineral  treasures,  as  I  myself,  in  a  dress  befitting  the 
infernal  regions,  with  a  lighted  torch  in  my  hand,  descending 
by  the  slippery  rounds  of  a  ladder  seven  hundred  feet,  and  trav- 
ersing two  miles  under  ground,  had  the  gratification  —  for  so  I 
may  call  it,  since  I  am  once  more  on  the  surface  — to  witness.  In 
this  part  of  the  country  there  is  little  wood,  and  no  coal,  and,  for 
fuel,  the  inhabitants  pare  the  surface  of  the  land,  which  seems 
covered  with  a  thick  matted  moss  and  heather,  and  which,  when 
taken  off,  leaves  under  it  a  mixture  of  white  gravel,  and  black, 
peaty  mould.  This  being  taken  off  in  spots,  the  country  resem- 
bles the  face  of  a  man  reduced  to  a  skeleton,  with  his  skin  pitted 
and  blotched  all  over  with  the  small-pox.  It  will  be  understood 
that  I  am  speaking  only  of  a  part  of  Cornwall,  and,  in  particular, 
the  mining  districts ;  for  in  some  parts  there  are  spots  of  eminent 
fertility,  of  which  the  culture  is  singularly  skilful,  and  the  pro- 
ductiv^eness  nowhere  exceeded. 

Some  of  the  land  owned  by  Colonel  Scobell  is  of  the  description 
of  which  I  have  spoken.  He  sells  the  moss  and  heather,  taken 
oflf  by,  what  a  native  American  may  properly  call,  this  scalping 
process,  at  twenty-four  pounds  per  acre  :  and  then,  by  deep  and 
brave  cultivation,  and  by  most  ample  manuring,  at  an  expense 
of  ten  pounds  an  acre,  he  brings  this  very  land  into  productive 
cultivation.  This  is  what,  in  New  England,  we  should  call 
adroitly,  and,  certainly,  most  honestly  and  creditably,  ''  turning  a 
penny ;  "  here  it  is  evident  it  might  be  designated  by  a  denom- 
ination two  hundred  and  forty  times  larger.  After  this  land  is 
in  this  way  brought  to,  it  would  readily  let  at  thirty  or  forty 
shillings  per  acre.  After  the  land  has  been  pared,  his  process  is 
to  drain,  subsoil,  and  manure  it,  and  then  he  gets  excellent  crops 
of  turnips,  barley,  and  wheat. 

'  All  circumstances  considered,  the  whole  management  of  this 
farm  seemed  to  me  excellent,  and  it  will  not  be  deemed  out  of 
place  if  I  now  speak  of  it,  since  the  subject  is  before  me. 

The  farm  embraces  an  extent  of  some  hundreds  of  acres,  of  a 
gravelly  soil,  and  much  of  it  composed  of  rotten  and  decomposed 
granite  rock.  It  required  no  small  resolution  and  courage  to 
take  such  a  tract  of  country  in  hand,  with  a  determination  to 
make  its  cultivation  profitable ;  for,  though  I  have  referred  to 
some  cases  in  which  the  returns  from  the  sale  of  the  furze  and 


488  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

heather  upon  it  were  very  large,  it  could  scarcely  be  expected 
that  such  a  process  of  profit  was  applicable  to  a  large  extent. 

The  farm  is  not  in  what  would  be  called  '•'  pink  style,"  and 
nothing  is  done  for  show.  The  fixtures,  though  very  conve- 
nient, are  of  a  plain  and  inexpensive  character.  He  keeps  150 
head  of  neat  stock ;  he  raises  all  his  calves ;  he  fats  a  large 
number  of  swine,  of  which  he  has  an  excellent  breed,  being  a 
mixture  and  cross  of  the  Essex,  the  Neapolitan,  and  a  boar  pro- 
cured from  the  United  States,  which  appeared  to  be  a  chance 
animal  with  excellent  points.  His  cattle  are  of  the  improved 
Durham,  which  seemed  not  the  kind  best  adapted  to  the  short 
pastures  of  the  country,  and  were  not  in  good  condition,  having, 
as  he  said,  suffered  from  the  extreme  drought  which  had  pre- 
vailed during  the  summer,  and  of  which  it  was  quite  evident 
the  stock  in  all  that  country  had  felt  the  severity. 

His  stock  are  kept  in  the  house  the  greater  part  of  the  year, 
and  fed  upon  steamed  food.  His  swine  are  generally  killed  at  one 
year  old,  and  weigh  from  fifteen  to  seventeen  scores  of  pounds  ; 
and  when  kept  until  two  years  old,  he  calculates  them  to  weigh 
about  thirty-five  scores  of  pounds.  He  has  killed  those  which 
weighed  thirty-six  score.  They  run  in  the  pasture  upon  grass  only, 
''  with  no  meat,"  —  that  is,  no  grain  or  meal,  —  from  April  until 
October.  They  are  then  put  up  and  fed  with  steamed  potatoes, 
mixed  with  barley  meal,  and  given  to  them  while  warm ;  and 
twelve  gallons  of  barley  meal  are  deemed  sufficient  for  the  fattening 
of  a  hog.  His  swine,'  when  put  up  for  fattening,  are  fed  several 
times  a  day.  Indeed,  the  hind  watches  them  constantly,  and 
supplies  them  with  food  as  often  as  their  troughs  are  emptied. 

The  cattle  are  tied  in  stalls  with  chains.  Provision  is  made, 
by  a  movable  trough,  to  let  in  water  to  them,  so  that  they  are 
not  turned  out  except  for  occasional  airing.  The  stable  and 
barns  are  upon  the  side  of  a  hill,  and  the  cattle  are  kept  upon  a 
lower  story. 

The  upper  part  of  the  barn  is  devoted  to  the  washing  and 
steaming  of  the  food ;  for  all  of  it,  the  chaff  as  well  as  the  vege- 
tables, are  steamed  for  the  stock.  The  turnips  and  potatoes  are 
placed  in  a  large  trough  or  tub,  directly  imder  a  full  current  of 
water,  coming  from  a  drained  field,  which  falls  some  short  dis- 
tance directly  upon  them,  and  immediately  passes  off,  carrying 
the  dirt  with  it.     The  potatoes  are  steamed  in  barrels.     The 


PARTICULAR    EXAMPLES    OF    IMPROVEMENT.  489 

barrels  are  suspended  in  an  iron  half  hoop,  and  are  swung  back 
and  forward  by  a  crane.  They  turn  upon  a  pivot,  and  have  but 
one  head  in.  They  are  easily  swung  round  to  the  trough, 
where  the  potatoes  are  washed,  and  then  filled.  A  movable 
bottom,  full  of  holes,  is  then  placed  in  the  open  head,  to  prevent 
the  potatoes  from  falling  out,  and  they  are  again  swung  round 
and  dropped  upon  a  platform,  and  a  steam-pipe,  opened  by  a 
cock,  introduced  under  the  bottom,  which  effectually  steams 
them  in  fifteen  minutes.  They  are  then  again  attached  to  the 
lever,  swung  round,  inverted,  the  movable  head  taken  out, 
again  inverted,  and  the  cooked  contents  poured  into  a  trough, 
and  the  barrel  again  filled  and  cooked  as  before  ;  so  that,  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  process,  they  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  be  touched  with  the  hand. 

The  turnips,  with  their  tops  on,  are  dropped  from  the  cart  into 
the  washing  trough,  and,  when  washed,  are  shoved  along,  and 
thrown  into  steaming  boxes  level  with  the  floor,  on  which  they 
are  washed.  These  boxes  have  a  false  bottom,  or  grating  of 
iron,  under  which  the  steam  is  introduced  by  a  pipe,  and,  after 
being  sufficiently  cooked,  the  end  of  the  box  is  dropped,  and 
they  are  easily  shovelled  into  a  cooling  box,  set  still  lower  than 
the  other,  for  their  reception.  The  chaff  is  steamed  in  a  large 
closet.  All  the  hay  for  the  cattle  is  cut  by  a  machine,  on  an 
upper  floor,  and  easily  shovelled  into  this  closet,  where  it  is 
steamed  by  a  pipe  introduced  from  the  common  steam  machine. 
Every  thing  is  contrived  to  simplify  and  relieve  labor.  The 
food  is  then  put  into  barrows,  and  wheeled,  through  the  passages, 
to  the  different  stock  to  be  fed.  The  water,  which  comes  from 
the  turnips  when  steamed,  is  always  saved,  and,  being  mixed 
with  a  small  quantity  of  barley  meal,  is  given  to  the  store  hogs. 
It  will  ferment  if  left  to  stand,  and  is  deemed  quite  nutritious. 
Oatmeal  is  used  for  the  stock,  when  barley  meal  cannot  be  ob- 
tained, and  is  deemed  much  better. 

The  potatoes  and  turnips  are  all  washed,  and  shovelled,  and 
steamed,  by  a  single  young  woman,  stout,  healthy,  active,  and 
energetic,  not  in  appearance  much  to  my  taste,  as  "  a  fine  gentle- 
man," but  entitled  to  respect  for  her  cheerfulness  and  good- 
humor,  and  for  the  spirit  and  fidelity  with  which  she  performed 
her  humble  duty.     Her  master  spoke  of  her  in  the  kindest  man- 


490  EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 

ner,  and,  in  looking  at  her  in  her  laborious  service,  I  could  not 
help  thinking  of  that  noble  line, — 

"Act  well  your  part;  there  all  the  honor  lies." 

The  manure  of  the  stock  is  thrown  into  the  yards.  Different 
kinds  are  mixed,  and  some  hogs  are  kept  among  it,  who,  by 
stirring  it  constantly,  prevent  its  fermentation.  The  liquid 
manure  is  all  saved  in  tanks,  and,  in  some  cases,  is,  with  great 
success,  led  over  the  fields. 

With  the  water  obtained  from  the  drainage  of  the  land,  Mr.  Sco- 
bell  has  created  a  mill-power,  which  turns  a  wheel  twenty-eight 
feet  in  diameter.  With  this  is  connected  a  threshing  machine,  a 
winnowing  machine,  and  a  flour  and  grain  mill,  for  the  purposes 
of  the  establishment ;  and  the  same  power  is  applied  to  a  mill  for 
crushing  and  sifting  bones,  to  a  chaff-cutter,  and  to  a  grindstone. 

From  the  situation  of  the  ground,  likewise,  on  the  side-hill, 
Mr.  Scobell  is  enabled  to  irrigate  portions  of  his  land,  which  he 
does  with  great  advantage.  From  the  rocky  character  of  the 
country,  the  fences  on  the  farm  are  stone  walls,  a  very  desirable 
mode  of  disposing  of  the  surplus  stone  in  the  fields  ;  and  his 
gates  upon  the  farm  are  of  iron,  at  the  moderate  cost  of  7s.  6d. 
per  gate.  They  appeared,  however,  quite  too  light  and  frail  for 
endurance. 

The  fixtures  on  the  farm  are  of  the  rudest  description,  and  no 
pretensions  are  made  to  neatness  or  exactness ;  but  every  thing 
seemed  well  cared  for  ;  and  for  economical  arrangements,  for 
effecting  the  purposes  intended,  for  a  management  combining 
the  lowest  scale  of  expenditure  with  the  highest  scale  of  profit, 
few  more  successful  examples  have  ever  come  under  my  obser- 
vation. The  courageous  enterprise,  which  could  boldly  face 
the  obstacles  to  be  encountered  in  this  most  inauspicious  tract 
of  country,  would  qualify  a  man  for  a  much  higher  military 
commission  than  that  which  its  proprietor  had  borne,  and  the 
sound  judgment  and  skill  which  suggested  and  planned  the 
improvements,  and  carried  them  out  with  such  a  creditable 
economy  of  labor,  are  well  worthy  of  commendation. 


491 


LXXXIX.  —  CORNWALL  AND  THE   LAND'S   END. 

Many  of  the  practices  prevailing  in  Cornwall,  with  the  modes 
of  speaking,  and  forms  of  expression  among  the  people,  are  so 
nearly  allied  to  those  of  New  England,  as  to  satisfy  me  that  we 
must  have  imported  them  from  this  part  of  the  world,  and  that 
scions  from  Cornwall  are  thickly  ingrafted  in  our  pilgrim  land. 
I  wish  we  might  inherit,  in  the  fullest  measure,  the  spirit  of  fuU- 
souled  hospitality  which  I  found  among  them.  I  have  only  to 
regret  that  the  rules  which  I  have  prescribed  to  myself  forbid 
my  saying  what  I  would.  But  the  feelings  of  grateful  and  affec- 
tionate respect  are  not  the  less  strong  for  being  suppressed ;  and 
my  Cornwall  friends,  from  their  own  generous  natures,  may  be 
Eissured  that  my  sense  of  their  constant  and  disinterested  kind- 
ness is  all  which  they  themselves  would  desire  it  should  be. 

On  this  excursion  into  Cornwall,  I  went  to  the  Land's  End, 
and  planted  my  foot  on  the  very  last  rocky  point,  extending  into 
the  sea,  which  I  was  able  to  reach.  I  had  but  a  few  moments 
before  passed  a  traveller's  home,  with  the  significant  sign,  ''  The 
First  and  the  Last  House  in  England."  Nothing  can  be  more 
picturesque  than  this  rude  and  rock-bound  shore,  with  its  white- 
fringed  ruffle  of  surf,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  and  a  few 
scattered  rocks  at  a  distance,  over  which  the  swelling  waves 
were  profusely  pouring  their  showers  of  diamonds,  so  treacherous 
to  the  home-bound  mariner,  so  picturesque  and  beautiful  to  the 
landsman,  as  he  suns  himself  upon  the  grassy  shore,  watching 
the  distant  sails  scattered  upon  the  wide  expanse,  full-freighted 
with  human  life  and  hopes,  glittering  in  the  sunlight,  and  float- 
ing like  water-fowl  in  their  native  element. 

As  I  stood  upon  the  far-jutting  point  of  the  promontory,  and 
felt  that  no  intervening  country  separated  me  from  the  land  of 
my  birth,  and  the  home  of  what  is  most  dear  to  me,  I  found  my 
head  growing  dizzy,  my  heart  beating  as  though  it  were  strug- 
gling to  get  out,  and  my  cheeks  quite  wet,  perhaps  with  the 
spray ;  and  I  could  only  find  relief  in  sending  a  thousand  un- 
spoken messages  of  affection,  and  in  more  earnest  prayers  for  the 
prosperity  of  the  land,  and  the  loved  ones  whom  I  had  left 
behind.  May  the  winds  waft  the  former  to  their  objects,  and 
the  last  find  a  response  in  heaven  ! 


492 


EUROPEAN    AGRICULTURE. 


TABLE, 

By  Jo%N  Morton, 

Shoiving  the  Distance  travelled  by  a  Horse,  in  ploughing  or  scarifying  an  Acre 
of  Land;  also  the  Quantity  of  Land  worked  in  a  Day,  at  the  Rate  of  sixteen 
and  eighteen  Miles  per  Day  of  nine  Hours.  —  {Johnson  and  Shatv's  Farmer's 
Almanac,  vol.  i.  p.  191.) 


Breadth  of 
Furrow-slice 
or  Scarifier. 

Space  trav- 
elled in 
ploughing  an 
Acre. 

Extent  ploughed  per 
Day,  at  the  Rate  of 

Breadth  of 
Furrow-slice 
or  Scarifier. 

Space  trav- 
elled in 
ploughing  an 
Acre. 

Extent  ploughed  per 
Day,  at  the  Rate  of 

Inches. 

Mih>. 

18  MUes.  1  16  JUOes. 
Acrts. 

Inches. 

Miles. 

18  Miles.  1  16  MUes. 
■Acres. 

7 

m 

li 

14 

34 

2A 

64 

54 

8 

m 

1* 

H 

35 

n 

64 

5-1 

9 

11 

n 

14 

36 

2* 

64 

5t 

10 

9A 

1* 

l« 

37 

2f 

6| 

6 

11 

9 

2 

If 

38 

2* 

6A 

64 

12 

H 

2i 

lA 

39 

24 

74 

64 

13 

n 

24 

2A 

40 

24 

74 

64 

14 

7 

2i 

2i 

41 

2f 

74 

6f 

15 

6J 

n 

2* 

42 

24 

7f 

6f 

16 

6* 

2A 

2f 

43 

2A 

7* 

7 

17 

5f 

3iV 

2J 

44 

2i 

8 

7A 

18 

5J 

H 

2f^ 

45 

24 

84 

74 

19 

Si 

3i 

3t^ 

46 

24 

84 

7f 

20 

4A 

3* 

3i 

47 

2A 

8S 

7f 

21 

4A 

3* 

34 

48 

2A 

8f 

7f 

22 

H 

4 

34 

49 

2 

8t's 

7A 

23 

H 

4i 

3A 

50 

2 

9A 

8A 

24 

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3A 

51 

It'17 

9f 

84 

25 

4 

4* 

4 

52 

lA 

94 

8| 

26 

31 

4i 

44 

53 

lA 

9f 

84 

27 

3| 

4A 

44 

54 

H 

9* 

8/. 

28 

3* 

54 

44 

55 

It 

10 

9 

29 

H 

H 

4# 

56 

If 

104 

9 

30 

H 

5f 

4* 

57 

li 

lOf 

94 

31 

H 

H 

5 

58 

lA 

lOf 

94 

32 

3tV 

5* 

5i 

59 

lf<r 

lOJ 

94 

33 

3 

6 

54 

60 

If 

lOA 

9^ 

END    OF    THE    FIRST    VOLUME. 


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